Team Gai
by symmetrygoddess
Summary: Sunaki was an outsider, a stranger from a deceased village, paired with Rock Lee, Neji and Gai.  "I will protect my friends with my life, they have given me meaning,a reason to live. but I wonder, had my village not perished, would I have been like you?"
1. Chapter 1

"Sir, we succeeded with the sealing, however, the ninja performing it died as expected."

The rikokage of the small village hidden in the snow sighed. "A small sacrifice for the sake of the village." He said bitterly. "Rikokage-sama, what if the girl is unsuccessful?""we had better hope not, if so then the village is doomed."

"Sir, enemy forces have gathered around the village, I think they're going to attack!"  
>"What!" the other two in the room replied. "Get the civilions to safety, we must evacuate the village!"<p>

"Sir, what about the girl?" "Let me see her, then see to it that she gets out safely as well!" "Yes sir!"

The man followed his men to the sealing chamber, were a small child was crying. He picked up the small bundle of blankets, murmering to the frightend child._'It's okay, you will be safe, sunaki, my only child._'

He let a small tear fall on the girl's face, and then let the men take her, and give her to one of the village woman to take with them.

*** One year later.

Two leaf village anbu were leaping through the trees. "Our mission is fulfilled, we now need to report back to the hokage." The other nodded in agreement.

They traveled in silence, until one stopped. "What's wrong?" The other called back.  
>"I thought I heard something, over there." he pointed to a small clump of bushes.<p>

The two investigated, only to find a small gurgling baby with short blonde hair."What do we do with her?"He asked "I say we bring her to the hokage, we can't just leave her here to die."

"Okay, then." He replyed, scooping her up and running back to the leaf village at top speed.

sorry it's so short, the chapters will be mostly short leading up to the chuunin exams.


	2. Chapter 2: Our Disfunctional Team

"Come on, let's go Sunaki-chan! We have to hurry!"

"Why are you always so impatient Lee?"

"Because if we do not hurry, we are going to be late! Gai-sensei we not like that!"

A very excited Lee dragged his best friend down the street by her arm, jabbering away.

"Lee, on time is not the same as late. Just because you're always early..."

" And he also said he's gong to teach me a new technique and..." He remained oblivious.

"And you're not even listening to me!" She mumbled loudly.

"And we could practise together and..."

Sunaki sighed, giving up. Nothing was going to calm Lee when he was this energetic.  
>"Can we at least slow down? These aren't exactly light, you know." The kuniochi growled, gestering to her back, where two swords were laying, criss-crossing in an x sign.<p>

The green spandex-clad ninja slowed a bit. "Come on, we have to get there before Neji does, at least." He urged. "Does everything have to be a competition between you two? Besides, Neji is always there first." The blonde countered. "And if I don't, then it will be 300 laps around..." "Ugh, you never listen!

The two were nearing the field in which they trained. The pair had left so early that they were the first ones there.  
>"See? I told you that we should have left early." Lee said truimphantly.<p>

Sunaki sighed at her teammates antics.  
>"Well, as long as we're here, should we start warm ups?"<br>"Fine." He replied happily.

Taking out her swords, she practised various attacks, mutilating the tree she was practising with.  
>"Hey, my youthful students, how are you this fine morning!" A green blur launched past her towards the middle of the feild, which was very big, mind you.<p>

"Gai-sensei!"

"Hello Lee, are you ready to train on this youthful morning?"

Lee sprang a salute."Hai sensei!"

And that's when she tuned out Lee's and Gai's yelling. "Hello Sunaki. how are you today?" She jumped. She hadn't even heard Neji walking up to her.  
>"I think I've got a headache." She groaned, gestering to her friend and her sensei.<br>"How about we go over to the next field and spar?" He suggested.  
>"That sound's fine to me." The kuniochi grumbled. She wasn't too fond of the brunnette, him having insulting Lee all the time.<p>

"Actually, I have an announcement for you." Gai-sensei cut in. "I have reccomended for all of you to particapate in the chuunin exams." Sunaki's eyes widened. "The chuunin exams? Really? That's great!" She spoke exitedly. Last year he had said the weren't ready, and that was understandable. "Here are the entry forms, and remember to show everyone your youthfulness!"  
>"Hai, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted happily.<p>

***Later that night. ***

"Hey, Sunaki. I heard some rumors that some rookie genin are particapating in the exams."  
>The three were practicing their aim when Neji spoke up.<p>

"Really? Huh, it might just be some jonin that are full of themselves. I wonder how they'll do?"  
>"Rookie genin in the chuunin exams? It hasn't happened in five years, do you think they are just that talented?" The raven haired ninja spoke.<p>

"I don't know, we'll have to wait until the exams start to find out then, won't we?" Neji replied.

Sunaki then spoke. "Hey, I heard that Sasuke uchiha graduated this year. You know, the big prodigy everyone's talking about. You think he's in the exams?"

Lee then made a fist in the air. "I will not lose to anyone!" He cried out.

Sunaki smiled as her kunai hit right on target.  
> <p>


	3. Chapter Three: Meeting Team Seven

Sunaki turned around, alone in the cramped up space. A small layer of water coated the floor of the familiar area, and splashed around her feet when she walked. When the short hallway ended, the only way out was a large, heavy door. She paused for a second, contemplating if she really wanted to go through or not. She sighed, and turned the knob.

Inside was a vast room, with a wall of bars going straight through the middle. The door was kept closed by a single strip of paper, worn down but not yet broken, With a single kanji, the symbol for 'seal'. The killing intent radiating from the inside of the prison was enough to choke her, but she stood her ground, knowing he could do nothing to harm her.

"Well? You haven't summoned me here for nothing, have you? What do you want?" She shouted out, her voice echoing eeriely in the vast room.

"Girl, you are entering the chuunin exam, no?" She could feel the ground shake slightly as the enourmous beast shifted on the cement floor, and some of the water splashed up on her.

"So, what's it to you?" She responded, speaking rather loudly.

Two glowing blue eyes met her's, and she felt herself tremble for a second despite herself. "Those stronger than you have fallen in those tests, be careful, weakling. You better not die yet."

Sunaki woke with a start, it had indeed been a while since she spoken with _it_.

She tried to busy herself with getting ready for the day, and tried to eat a piece of toast and get dressed at the same time, and his words ran through her head once more. _Those stronger than you have fallen in those tests. _She mentally shook herself, now was not the time to get cold feet. Her teammates were counting on her, after all. She threw a quick glance a the clock and flew out the door.

Team Gai arrived at the training academy early, already a whole crowd of chuunin hopefuls had gathered. Sunaki sighed and dodged her way through the crowd, avoiding the teams who didn't seem to care if they knocked someone over. When they got to the third floor, a small hord had accumulated next to the door. The girl shoved through the wall of genin and saw the attraction, two visibly older boys were taunting and bullying a young team with kumo headbands.

When the smaller boy fell to the ground, Sunaki walked calmly in front of him.

"Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size, or are you too weak?" She frowned at the other kid. He looked oddly familiar. She could have sworn she had seen him somewhere.

"How's a little girl like you gonna stop me?" He smirked at her. Oh, if only Lee hadn't suggested that they keep their abilities secret. "Let us through." Neji's voice sounded behind her.

The kid's older looking friend threw a right hook at her, and caught her unawares, sending her stumbling back. "If you can't go through us, there's no point in taking the exam. This would all look like child's play compared to some of the things you need to go through there."

Sunaki regained her balance and growled at the offending bullys, who smirked in return. "Might as well go home to play 'ninja' with your toys!"

Her chakra spiked for a moment and she sent a bit of killing intent at the older boys, who looked startled at her outburst. "Let us through now, or else!" She lifted one fist threateningly.

"Hey, stop right there." She froze solid at that voice. No, it couldn't-! She turned around and let out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding. It was just another genin team. A dark haired boy with equally dark eyes, another with sunshine yellow hair and a bright orange jumpsuit, and a girl with bubble-gum pink hair and a red dress were standing there calmly.

The dark-haired one stepped fowards. "Good. Now release the gen-jutsu. It's obvious we're still on the second floor, and I bet Sakura noticed right away, didn't you." He twisted his head around to the newly discovered 'Sakura', who nodded immedietly.

"Of course I did, we've only walked up two flights of stairs." She boasted loudly, much to Sunaki's annoyance. She had been so sure that had been the third floor. The air around the sign warped slightly and realeased, showing that they were indeed on the second floor. Neji frowned.

"And just what is your name?" He demanded as soon as The dark-haired boy turned back to the stairs. He looked back at the group. "I'm not obligated to give out such information, besides, isn't it common courtesy to give your own name first?" He said while tipping his head to the side cockily, a smirk on his face. "What is that?" Neji scowled, infuriated.

_'looks like we've got an overconfident one, they're the first to go.'_ Sunaki grinned while Neji scowled and turned to walk up the stairs on the other side. "Hey! Don't you want to know my name?" The blonde standing next to duck-butt hair waved his hands in the air, trying to draw attention to himself.

"Sure, what's your name, kiddo." Sunaki laughed at his display of energy. His grin widend and he pointed his thumb to himself. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, next hokage and the awesomest ninja ever!"

The silver-haired girl chuckled slightly. "Well, see you at the exam then, Naruto-kun." She spun around and bounded up to where Lee and Neji were standing, and grabbed Lee's hand. "We're going for a little walk. Come on!"

Lee spoke with a confused look on his face. "Where are we going?" He tugged on her hand to further his question. "To gather information on that genin team. I'm not sure, but- Ahh, through this door here!"

She opened a door and half ran, half dragged Lee in.

"Hurry Sasuke-kun! The test starts in a half hour, we should hurry!" A girl's voice rang through the room, an urging tone to it. "Neh, Sakura-chan, why do we have to hurry? It's boring to sit around for such a long time doing nothing!" Sunaki walked over to the railing. The team of three were standing there, Sakura and the blonde were arguing in the middle of the floor while Sasuke just stood there looking irritated. Sunaki smiled sadistically to herself and climbed up onto the railing, keeping her balance easily.

"Hey, you there!" All three genin turned to look up into the shadows. "Yes, you!" She called out again, pointing downwards. She jumped down onto the wooden floor, landing lightly on her feet. Sasuke frowned and spoke. "Hey, you're that girl from before?" he said. "The one they were beating on?"

Sunaki narrowed her eyes at him as Lee jumped down beside her. " Hey, you're her teammate, right?" the blonde asked, tipping his head to the side curiously. "you, I want to fight you." Sunaki raised her voice when he spoke. "sorry, but i'm not in the habit of picking fights with weak little girls." Sasuke said when he thought she was talking to him, "you should just head home." Sunaki laughed at that. "No, I was talking to _him."_ Said said again, pointing at Naruto, "like you could be a worthy opponant." Sasuke scowled and crossed his arms. "Like the dobe over there could ever beat you, never mind me."

"Hey, you couldn't even dream of beating me teme! Come on, i'll kick your ass!" He shouted in her direction. Lee smiled his 'nice guy' smile and held his thumb up. "i'm sure that Sunaki-chan won't lose!"

Sunaki smiled evilly and drew out a nin-blade. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come at me!" she could feel her heart rate speed up, this was it! She was almost positive that she had found someone like herself! She quickly glanced at the clock. she had almost twenty-five minutes until the first test started, plenty of time.

Naruto wasted no time in jumping at the girl, who leapt evenly backwards, making him land on his face. "Bastard" she heard him mumble under his breath, thinking she couldn't hear. He jumped up and tried to run and punch her in the face, but Sunaki just leaned over so he passed harmlessly beside her. She turned around and watched him fall down, giggling slightly. Naruto growled on the ground, and there it was! It was just a wisp, nothing anyone else in the room could sense, but she felt it. The demon's chakra. "What are you staring at!" Naruto yelled out, fuming. He made a cross handsign. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" With a huge puff of smoke, about ten Narutos were right in front of her. Sunaki lifted her eyebrow. Kage bunshin, huh?

She drew out one of her short blades, and stood ready. Five attacked at once, and she sliced through them with ease, and the rest came at her while she was finishing the last one. She blocked their punches and stabbed one right through. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto flinch at the clone's memories and smiled to herself. When they were gone and nothing but poofs of smoke were left, Naruto himself launched through the smoke and tried to land a kick on the girl. She had seen him move and dodged to the right, leaving him to land clumsily behind where she had stood. He whipped around furiously and jumped at her again, but she blocked the blow with her metal blade and landed a kick on him in the blink of an eye. Speed was her strength, and she used it well. He was sent flying and hit the wall hard, leaving a dent and knocking him out.

She widened her eye all innocently and giggled. "Oh, looks like I knocked him out, too bad. Anyways, I proved my point." She turned to Naruto's teammates, still laughing. "You should watch out for us in the exams, we're not to be trifled with. well, this is goodbye," she waved her hand dismissively and turned to leave out the door they came in. Sasuke's glare turned into a look of rage at being ignored, so he activated his sharingan and ran at the girl's turned back. Lee, saw that and appeared under him and kicked him up into the air and launched himself up with him. Sunaki stopped and looked around, and then her eyes widened. "Lee!" He was about to use a forbbiden jutsu, the idiot!

That's when the pinwheel came flying out of nowhere and pinned the bandages on Lee's hand down. Sunaki facepalmed, literally. "Here we go again," she muttered, catching the confused look on Sakura's face.

Gai-sensei's summoned turtle gave Lee crap for revealing his jutsu in front of the enemy, and Lee tried to come up with an excuse, all of which didn't sound convincing. Lee hung his head and Sunaki's face turned red in embarassment when Gai-sensei himself showed up.

"You idiot!" He cried out, punching her friend in the face as punishment. He went flying across the room, and Sakura gasped shock, while sunaki knew he had endured worse with his 'punishments'.

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

The two hugged and the mysterious sunset backround appeared again. Sunaki suspected it was a gen-jutsu, though she never thought to try and dispel it. The wo were about to run off into the 'sunset', but Sunaki ran up and spoke.

"Gai-sensei, what about the exam? It starts in five minutes!" He coughed and the spoke as well. "Yes, well, as punishment for also distrupting the exams, you both will have to run ten laps around konoha." He said to his students.

"What?" Sunaki cried out.

"Hai sensei!" Lee saluted again. Gai-sensei disapeared with a poof of smoke and Lee turned to Sunaki. "I guess we should get going!" He cried out, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the hallway. She smiled and waved to Sasuke and Sakura as she was pulled out to the hall.

Thing got interesting.


	4. Chapter 4: The first exam

**A/N: Thank you Omigosh123! Have a cookie, your reviews are lovelyXD And cookies to anyone who reviews this chapter! and btw, italics are thoughts or exaggerations:)**

"Hey! There you are! Where were you two?" Neji...

"Umm..." She mumbled. "Never mind, the exams are going to start soon." He said. The three opened the door, and walked through. Sunaki felt a little uncomfortable. She had never been very social, but a bunch of strangers in a crowded room was different. Suddenly, the door opened again and, lo and behold! Team seven walked in. Naruto's eyes opened wide.

"You!" He yelled, pointing at the blonde kuniochi. Sunaki's eyes narrowed playfully. "It's not very polite to point, you know." She laughed.

"Wait, you know him?" Neji asked, confused. "Long story, go find us some seats, will you?" She waved the Hyuuga prodigy away.

Three more genin walked in. "Oh, Naruto. So you guys took this troublesome exam too?" Asked the brunette."Hey! Shikamaru!" There was a flash of yellow and suddenly, Sasuke was being mauled by a blonde girl with a ponytail. "Sasuke-kun, where've you been! Boy, you have no idea how much I was hoping you'd show up here, i've missed you!." She said, glomping him. "Hey! You porker, back off, he's mine!""Miss forehead, they let you in? Still got those frown lines on your bill-board brow I see." The two were now locked in a fiery glare battle. Sunaki chuckled.

"Hey guys, watch'a up to?" Sunaki spun around. Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame "H-hello N-Naruto-kun." She spoke softly. "Hi Hinata" The lavender eyed girl blushed and looked away. "Hello Hinata." Sunaki said brightly. "Oh! Sunaki-chan, Hello." She said nervously. "Who's the blonde chick?" Kiba so politely asked.

Sunaki smirked in a way that showed her elonged canines, another side effect of having a demon sealed inside of her. "Yuki Sunaki. And you are?"

"Kiba Inuzuka." He grinned, stretching the tatoos on either side of his face.

"So, looks like all of rookie nine are here, this is going to be fun, at least, for the people good enough to make the cut. Right Sasuke?" Kiba laughed.

"Kiba, careful you don't get cocky. Losers like you get killed that way." Said raven smirked.

"Were going to blow you guys away, we've been training like crazy." Akumaru barked in agreement.

"What do you think we've been doing? Sitting around? You don't know the meaning of training!" Naruto yelled back.

"Hey, guys, you might want to keep it down. I mean, No offense or anything, but you guys are the nine rookies, right? Fresh out of the academy? I wouldn't go around making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it, this isn't some class field trip you know."

A stranger with silver hair and glasses walked up to them.

"Well who asked you? Who are you, anyway?" Ino scoffed rudely. "Kabuto Yakushi. But really, look around, you've made quite an impression."

Everyone looked around. People were staring with hostility in their gaze. "See those guys?" He gestured towards a group of chuunin hopefuls with rain headbands. "They're from the hidden rain, very touchy, they all are. This exam makes everyone tense, you don't want to get on their nerves." "Nuh-uh" Sakura agreed shakily. "Oh, well. You can't help it. I mean how can you know how things work, you're only rookies. You kinda remind me of myself a while back"

"Is this your first time taking the test, Kabuto?" Sunaki asked curiously. "Heh-heh, actually, i've taken the exams seven times." Kabuto rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "They're held twice a year, so this would be my fourth year."

"Wow, a veteren, you must really be an expert!" Sakura breathed. "Well, sort of." He said.  
>"Cool, you can give us all the inside tips." Naruto said excitedly. "Pht, some expert he is, he hasn't managed to pass yet!" Shikamaru scoffed.<p>

"Well, seventh time's the charm, that's what they say, huh?" The silver haired genin chuckled. sheepishly. "So I guess the talk about the exam being tough are true. Oh, man. I knew this was going to be a troublesome test." Shika sighed.

"Hang on, don't give up hope yet. I may be able to help you kids. With my-" He took something out of his pockets."- Ninja info cards." "What the heck are those?" Kiba sniffed.

"It's hard to explain, but they're chakra encoded with everything I've learned over the past four years. I have got more than two hundred of them, so I haven't been completly wasting my time. They may not look like much, in fact, they appear blank. Don't want just anyone seeing this stuff." He grinned, holding the blank cards up for everyone to see.

"What are you doing?' Sunaki asked when he began spinning it around. "You see, i'm using my chakra, to reveal it's secrets. Like this one, for example." There was a small puff of smoke and a map appeared on the small card.

"Oh, a map. The blonde kuniochi said. "Of what?" Sakura asked. "It shows a geographical distribution of all the candidate who have come to taske the exams. What village they come from and how many from each village. Why do you think everyone comes to take the exam together, at the same time?" Everybody was silent. "It's to foster friendship between nations, of course. International brotherhood and all that, and it's true enough, as far as it goes."

"But there's another reason." Sasuke spoke. "Yeah. You see, this way they can carefully regulate the amout of shinobi in each village, thereby maintaning the balance of power."  
>"Oh yeah, balance of power." Naruto said, looking clueless. "Balance of power, big deal, it's all too troublesome. Kabuto erased the card and spoke. "If the balance isn't maintained then one village may wind up with many more shinobi than the others, therefore they may be tempted to attack, so they trie to maintain the status quo. Makes sense, I suppose."<p>

"Do those cards have individual information on the others candidates?" Sasuke asked. "They might, you have someone special in mind?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the silver haired man. "Well, I can't promise my information is complete or perfect, but I have something on just about everyone. Including you guys of course. So, who do you want to know about? Tell me anything you know about them, their names, where they're from, physical description, anything."

"Their names are Sabaku No Gaara, and Rock Lee of the leaf." Sunaki blinked at him, she hadn't expected him to request information on her teammate." "Man, that's no fun, you even know their names. That makes it easy." He took two cards out of his bundle.  
>"Ok, then. Rock Lee of the leaf." The card poofed smoke, and then showed Sunaki's teammate.<p>

"look's like he's about a year older than you, Mission experience, 20 d-rank and 11 c-rank, His squad leader is Maito Gai, And in the last twelve months his Tai-jutsu skill have improved dramaticlly, but his Gen-jutsu and Nin-jutsu are terrible. He chose not to particapate in the chuunin exams last year, despite all the attention he was receiving. This will be his first time as a candidate. His teammates are Sunaki Tigura And Neji Hyuuga." He looked up. "So you're his teammate, then." Sunaki jumped. "Uhh, yes, I am." She said, nodding her head nervously at the attention from the strange genin.

"And now for Gaara of the desert."

He spun it twice and his picture appeared on the small cards, displaying the red hair and aqua eyes ringed in lack. "Mission experience; 8 c-ranks and, get this, one b-rank as a genin. There's not a lot more information on this guy, he was a rookie from another land, originally. But there is this, he made it back from each of his missions without a scratch on him."

"The guys gone on a b-rank mission as a genin without any injuries!" Shikamaru exclaimed."What's the deal with this guy?" Naruto wondered. "From the looks of it, each village sent exeptionally skilled candidates this time , you get the point, the competitions going to be intense this year."

"So it would seem, it's almost enough to make you lose your confidence." Hinata said softly. "Don't worry Hinata, i'm sure you'll do just fine!"Sunaki tried to reassure her. "Yep, we've got our work cut out for us." Kabuto said. Sakura was trying to talk to her teammate."Hey, Naruto, Don't worry, we'll be fi-" Suddenly Naruto jumped and and pointed at everyone. "YAH! My name is Naruto Uzumaki and i'm going to beat every one of you! Beee-lieve it!"

"Hey, get your stupid boyfriend too shut up Sakura!" Ino yelled at said kuniochi.  
>"Whose boyfriend!" She yelled back. "Oh, I forgot, you can't get one!" "Uh.. can you say that a little louder, I didn't quite catch that." Kiba coughed. "You moron, are you trying to get us killed?"Shikamaru sighed. Sakura started strangling Naruto and telling him he was an idiot.<p>

There was a flash and a man leaped out of the crowd and a couple kunai streaked towards where Kabuto was sitting. The genin jumped back, avoiding the knifes. The man jumped forward, trying a punch at the silver-haired medics, face, who dodged. "He's fast." Sunaki remarked in awe. "Yeah, He's almost as quick as me!" Sasuke murmered. Sunaki could hear a very high pitched ringing noise, so high that nobody else could hear it.

Kabuto smirked, and then his glasses broke, the shattered pieces falling to the ground. "Oh, I get it. So it was that kind of attack..." he said calmly, taking the broken lenses off. "What happened?" Sunaki cried. "Hang on, I saw it all, he dodged it. How did that happen?" Sasuke said. "It must have come closer than it looked." Shikamaru reasoned. Kabuto gasped, falling to his knees, and vomited. Naruto yelled. "What, did he just-" "Kabuto, What's wrong?"Sakura cut in. Kabuto coughed. _'I don't get, did that noise I heard have anything to do with Kabuto collasping? Those genin, they're from sound village, he said they were a mystery.'_Sunaki thought.

"Not such a tough guy after all, maybe thats why he's on his seventh try" Dosu grinned. "Write this on your little cards, when this is done all of the sound shinobi will be chuunin, garanteed." There was a huge explosion of smoke at the front of the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I am Ibiki Morino, your examiner for the first test of the chuunin selection." The smoke cleared, revealing some twenty men. The one at the front was covered in scratches and scars. "First," he pointed to the back of the room where they all stood."You canidates from the village hidden in the sound, knock it off, who gave you permission to fight? You wanna be failed before we even begin?" Dosu turned facing the examiner.

"Sorry, it's our first time taking this test, I guess we're just a little jumpy." "I'll say this once, so listen up! there will be no combat between candidates, no attacking each other without the permission of your procter, and even then, the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited. Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediatly, got it?" Morino ordered.

Zoku smirked. "No fatal force? That's no fun."  
>Ibiki ingored him and moved on. "If you are ready we will move on to the first stage of the chuunin selection. Hand over your paperwork and in turn you will each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We will start the written test once you are seated."<p>

"The what? Did he just say 'Written?'" Naruto asked nervously. One of the men at the front gathered a pile of tests. "Come on! Not a written test, no way!" Naruto yelled despretly. Sunaki ignored him and went to the front to hand in her entry form and take her number. When everyone was seated Ibiki started talking again. "Okay, everyone eyes front. There are a few rules that you need to be aware of, and I wont answer any question, so pay attention! All right, rule #1 is that the written test is cunducted by a point reduction system. Contrary to what some of you may be used too, all of you begin the test with a perfect score of ten point will be deducted for every question you get wrong, so if you miss three your final score will be seven. Rule #2, teams will pass or fail based on the overall scores of all three members. _'No problems there, with mine and Lee's plan and Neji's byakugan we'll pass for sure!_'

"What! You mean we all get scored as a team!" Sunaki turned around in her seat to see Sakura yelling at the examiner. "Silence! I have my reasons, so shut up and listen! Rule #3, The sentinals you see stationed around the are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating, and for every incident they spot they will deduct 2 points from the culprit's score. Be warned, their eyes are sharp, and they catch you five times, you'll be dismissed before the tests are even graded. Anyone fool enough to be caught by the sentinals doesn't deserve to be here."

"If you want to be considered shinobi, then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be. One more thing, if any candidate should fail and get a zero, then the entire team fails!" Sunaki could see a few heads pop up at that, team seven's included."The tenth question won't be given out until fifteen minutes until the test ends. You have one hour total. Begin!

Sunaki looked around and picked up her pencil. Scanning quickly over the sheet of paper, she realized that the questions were hard. _Really_ hard! Oh well, time to resort to plan B!

The examiners noticed nothing. The blonde had shifted the blade of her sword until it was just over her shoulder, and had a small piece of glass. Using the glass and the reflection of the metal blade, she could spy on the person in front of her. Who happened to be Sabaku No Gaara, the one from the nin-info card.

The red haired shinobi had somehow gathered the answers he needed,and all she had to do was copy them and let Lee know. The reflection let the blonde see everything, and she soon had them copyed down.

Lee also had a small mirror, and when she made a small hand signal she saw him slip it out and use it to reflect her. Adjusting the mirrors, she saw him tap his pencil three times, and stopped. That was the signal that he could see her sheet. After watching him get to work, she looked at Neji, being careful not to disturb the reflective materials.

He was using byakugan, so she wasn't worried. Naruto, on the other hand, looked like a nervous wreck. _'Too bad for his team'_ the blonde thought. The uchiha was scribbling furiously, and Shikamaru Nara looked like he was taking a nap.

"Number 23, you're out." One of the examinaters called."What! I didn't do anything!" Looking around, she noticed that plenty of people were being sloppy with their cheating, so it wasn't a suprise when a couple of groups were kicked out.  
>"Number 59, Fail, numbers 33 and 9, fail."<br>_'Thats the fourteenth team they kicked out! how many are going to have to leave?'_ The blonde kunoichi thought.  
>"Number 41, Fail!"<p>

The clock was ticking, they didn't have much time left. About twenty more minutes, and only half of them were left. The red-haired ninja was sitting with his eyes closed, he had long finished his sheet, Sasuke was just putting his pencil down, and Naruto was more freaked out than ever. you could practiclly see the dark clouds above his head. Most of the chuunin hopefuls were finished, and those who were not were finishing up. One of the sand ninja had asked to go to the bathroom, and he had not yet returned.

"Okay, now that we've weeded out all of the hopeless cases, fifteen minutes left, time for the main event, the tenth question!" Morino Ibiki spoke. "But, before I give you the tenth question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of."

The door opened, and the sand genin walked in. "huh?" He breathed. "Ah, made it just in time, hope you found your trip to the bathroom _enlightening_."  
>The ninja eye's narrowed. <em>Enlightening? what does he mean by that? was he cheating or something in there? <em>"Well, take your seat."

"These rules are unique to the tenth question, listen carefully, and try not to let them frighten you." he narrowed his eyes. "Very well, then. Rule number one, each of you will be given the desision not to be given the final question, it's your decision." 'It's our decision? Is there some sort of trick, what happens if we decide not to?' The silver-blonde genin thought. "whoa, so what's the catch! Let's say we decide not to take it, what happens then?" The female genin from the hidden sand village voiced her thoughts. "If you choose not to take the question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you will get a zero. In other words, you fail, and that means your teammates go down as well."

_'well of course we'll take it then.'_ There was some muttering around the room."Hang on, you didn't let me finish. If you do accept the question, but answer incorrectly, then you will not only be failed..." there was a collective intake of breath around the room. "You will be banned from taking the chuunin exam ever again!"

"Hey that's bull, man, what kind of bogus rule is that? There are plenty of people that have taken this exam before!" Kiba stood and yelled, Akamaru barking in agreement. Ibiki just laughed. "I guess you were just, unlucky, this time around. I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now, and if you don't want to take it, you don't have to." Kiba stiffened and sat back down.

"Now then, if you're ready, the tenth and final question, those who don't want to take it raise your hand! Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go."  
>Sunaki was a bit nervous, but there was no way she was going to let Neji and Lee down. "Um, i'm out,That's it, i'm out. I just can't do it, i'm sorry!" "Number fifteen, fail! Number 130, number 110, you're out as well."<p>

"Genai, Inoho, i'm sorry guys." The other two stood up and left with their teammate. Several others raised their hands and left with their the room slowly emptied, the pressure increased. Suddenly, Naruto raised his hand, and slammed it onto his desk. "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and i don't run, you can act tough all you want, but you're not scaring me away! I don't care if I get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life, i'll still be hokage someday!" _'He's a brave one, you can't deny that!'_ Sunaki thought affectionally.

"This is a decision that can change your life, if for any reason you would rather quit, this is your final chance."  
>Nobody raised their hands. "Well, then. I admire your determinatian, nothing for those remaining, you hav one thing left to do." He looked around."And that's for me to tell you, that every one in this room... PASSED." There was silence. "What just happened, what do you mean we all passed? Where's the tenth question?" Ibiki laughed and spoke"there never was a tenth question, not a written one at least! Actually, your decison to stay was the answer to the tenth question."<p>

"Wait a second, you mean the other nine questions were just a waste of time!" The female sand genin snarled. "No, no, not at all. Quite the opposite, really. The first nine questions had a important overriding purpose. Your ability to surptisiosly gather strategic intellegence under the most adverse circimstances." "Oh, well that clears up everything." She said sarcasticly. Morino chuckled. "Let me explain, you see my objective was to test you not only as individuals, but as a team, and on how well you function as a part of that team. That's why the test was scored on a team basis, so you'd know that everything you did or failed to do would directly affect your teammates.I wanted to see how you would handle that pressure."

"mm-hm, yeah I figured it was something like that, that's why I kept my cool." _'yeah, right._'Sunaki chuckled. "The first nine questions were difficult, in fact you may have realised they were too difficult to have expected any genin to solve them. I imagine that most of you quickly came to that conclusion, that you'd have to cheat to have any hope of passing and the fact is, the test was designed to encourage cheating, almost demanding it. Of course it would have done you little good if you didn't have someone to cheat from, so I disguised two chuunin that already knew the answers and had them sit in with you." The scarred man gestured to two young boys, who dropped the henge and waved.

"Those who were caught at it failed. Better not to cheat, than to cheat poorly. information can be the most valuble weapon in battle, how well you can gather information can determine whether a mission is a failure or a success."

He took off his bandana, his head was covered in scars. "Oh, man. What a mess." Sasuke said. "Scars and puncture wounds, burn marks. What he must have endured." "What happened to him?" Sunaki whispered. "Of course, you must always consider the source of your information, intelligence gathered from an enemy is not nessecarily accurate. Always bear this in mind, disinformation could be worse than no information at all, It could lead to the death of comrades, or the loss of a village. That's why I put you in the position where you have to gather accurate intelligence, cheat in order to survive. And that's why those who weren't good enough at it were weeded out, leaving the rest of you." When he finished his little speech the blonde sand shinobi spoke. "Okay, but i'm still not getting what the tenth question thing is all about."

"Really? The tenth question was the whole main point of the exam, surely you see that?" "Uh, sure, but explain it anyway!" Sakura shouted. "As I said before, the goal was to test you not only as individuals, but as part of a squad. The final question gave you two choices, both difficult. You could choose to play it safe and skip the question, though it meant both you and your teammates would be failed, or you could try and answer it, knowing if you got it wrong, you would lose your chance of ever being chuunin. It was a no-win situation. But just the sort chuunin are faced with every day."

"for example, let me give you a hypothetical mission, To steal a document from an enemy's stronghold. You have no idea how many ninja the enemy have, or how heavily armed they are. Furthermore, you have reason to believe that the enemy expects you, that you very well may be walking blindly into a trap. Now, do you have the option of taking a pass on this insane mission? Of saying me and my comrades would rather live to keep fighting another day? Can you choose to avoid danger?"

"No! There will be many missions that will seem almost suicidle if you think about it. But you do not think about it, you think only of the goal, and achieving it through courage and disipline. These are the qualities required of a chuunin squad who choose the safer of two paths, those who determination falters in the face of adversities, those who would put their comrades live's in jeopardy by worrying about their own, those who would save their own neck at the price of sacred honour will never be able to call themselves chuunin, at least as long as i'm here. As for the rest of you, you have successfully answered the ten question i've put to you. You have earned the right to continue on to the next step. You have passed the first gate, I hereby proclaim this part of the chuunin selection complete."

The man grinned at them. "There's nothing left but to wish you guys good luck, congradulations!" "All right! We did it! That's one down!Yeah, Yeah! Woo-hoo!" _'Naruto is yelling random stuff again'_ Sunaki laughed. Suddenly the glass window by the black board shattered, and a woman and a banner flew in.

"Is this part of the test!" The blonde boy asked loudly, shocked. The woman was wearing a jacket and a fishnet shirt, her hair up in a spiky ponytail. The banner read, **Here comes the second test's procter: Anko Mitarashi.**

"Heads up boy and girls! This is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next procter. Anko Mitarashi! You ready for the second test! Good! follow me, let's go!" She pumped her fist up into the air, shouting. Everybody just stared.

"You're early. Again." Ibiki growled. Anko glanced around. "How many are there? Ibiki, You let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy, you must be getting soft." She scoffed at the special jounin. "Or maybe it was a stronger crop of candidates this year." "Hmm, they sure don't look it. Trust me, before i'm done with them more than half of them will be eliminated." _'She was pretty cocky wasn't she?'_

"Huh? More than half?" Sakura exclaimed. "Ahh, This is going to be fun." She grinned sadisticly.

"All right, you maggots have had it easy so far, but things are going to be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders where you're to meet me. Dismissed!"

As everyone left the building, Sunaki sought out Rock Lee and Neji Hyuuga. "So, how'd you do?" She asked Neji. "I did just fine." He told her shortly, walking away. "I'll meet you two tomorrow at the second exam." He yelled over his shoulder.

"What's eating him?" She asked Lee. "No idea." He replyed. "That was a weird test." She remarked. "Hmm, so it was." "So, do you think you're ready for the second test?" She asked.

"Yosh, I will show everyone my youthfulness!" He yelled enthusiasticlly.

"Hmm, can't wait then!" She grinned at her friend.

_The second examination... _

**A/N: Okay, so it's three in the morning and i'm drinking a monster, sorry if it's messed up or anything! Next chap will be the second exam, so stay tuned! XD Symmetrygoddess out!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: just in case you guys are confused, here's a brief physical description of Sunaki. She has bright blonge around elbow length hair, so bright that it's almost silver. she wears a silver shirt underneath a black waistcoat and dark blue shorts, and doesn't everyone wear those infamous ninja sandals? Sometimes during missions she also likes to pull back her hair into a ponytail, and then it's kinda spiky^_^ also, her clan emblem is on the back of her shirt, but no one can see 'cause of the jacket:)**

The streets of konohagakure were empty in the early morning light. Two young ninja were walking the quiet streets. "I love how peaceful it is in the morning." Sunaki commented. "Yes, but we should hurry to meet Neji at the forest." Lee smiled. "Race you!" She yelled, running ahead even though she knew he was faster than her. "I won't lose!" The raven-haired ninja promised.

The two ran through the streets, and then started leaping the rooftops, Sunaki in the lead for once. The mischeivous silver-blonde twisted in middair to look back at her teammate. "Come on, can't you keep up?" She challenged. With a sudden burst of speed, Lee rushed forth to tie them. Lee grinned truimphantly at his friend. Returning to the streets, the pair ran the rest of the way. And, as expected, Lee won. "Hmph, i'll win next time though!" She grinned brightly. The two walked over to Neji. "Hey." She said, smiling brightly. "Hello." He answered indifferently, staring over to where rookie nine stood.

The whole location was next to a fence, and inside the fence was what looked like a forest. There was seals and signs all over the gates, saying 'forbbiden area'. "Not a very friendly lookig place is it?" The blonde commented. Anko Mitarashi was at the front, talking. " This is where the sencond exam will be taking place. The 44th training area..." The jonin spoke. "Also known as the forest of death." "The forest of death?"

A 'mysterous' box crawled up to Naruto, disguised as a rock. Naruto stared at it, then slowly walked to the right, the box following him. "Am I the only one seeing this?" Sunaki asked her teammates. "That is weird." Lee agreed with her. Naruto started running around in circles, the box following. Naruto stopped and pointed at the square object. "Hey, Konohamaru! What are you doing here?" He yelled. Suddenly the 'rock' spoke. "I should have expected that from the man I look up to. Good job detecting me."

The rock-like box lit up and exploded in brightly coloured smoke, making everybody cough."Hey, you used too much gunpowder." _'Three academy students? What were they doing here?'_ The three of them introduced themselves dramaticly, striking poses. "And the three of us make... The konohamaru corps!" They yelled. "What do you three want." Naruto asked, unimpressed. "I'm about to take the second exam for the chuunin selection. I don't have time to play with you." The younger group explained that they were there for a newspaper story on the chuunin selection. "Okay, we're going to have a ten-minute break now." Anko yelled.

"A ten-minute break?" Sunaki groaned. she sat down on the ground looking bored.

*** Ten minutes later ***

"This sure is a creepy place!" Sakura exclaimed. Anko laughed. "You will be able to experience why this is called the forest of death." Naruto started mocking her. "There's no point in trying to scare us like that! I'm not scared at all!" The hyberactive blonde yelled. The special jonin smiled sweetly. "Really? You sure are energetic." With a flash, she had thrown a kunai at him, which sliced his cheek, drawing blood."boys like you die the fastest. After spilling out all that red blood I love all over the place." A grass ninja appeared behind Anko, her kunai grasped in his tongue. "Here's your knife." "Why thank you." She accepted the knife from him."But don't stand behind me like that, that is, unless you want to die young." She threatend good naturedly. "Well, I get itchy when I see blood. Also, my precious hair was cut, so I got a little excited. I'm sorry." The creepy grass nin walked back to his team. "It looks like there are a lot of hot-headed people here today. This is going to be interesting." And with that she took her place by the front again. "Before we start the second exam, i'm going to pass these out to everyone." She took out some papers from her jacket."These are consent forms. Those taking this exam must sign these."

"Why?" Naruto asked curiously. "From here on, people will die. Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue. Otherwise, i'll be held responsible." She chuckled. "Now, I will begin the explanation of the second exam. To be concise, you will all go through on an extreme survival match." 'survival match?' Sunaki took one paper from the pile and handed them to Neji. She quickly scanned over the sheet of paper. "Hmm, looks like this test is pretty dangerous. She said that some of us would die here." She commented to her team. "Yes, it would seem so." Her friend answered. "I'll explain the training area's goegraphical features. The 44th training area is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gates entrances. There is a river, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 km away from the gates. Inside this limited space, you will have to go through a certain survival program. the program consist's of..." she put away the map that she had been showing them and two out two similair objects." A competition where anything goes... over these scrolls."

The things she had taken out were two scrolls, one biege with the 'heaven' kanji on it, and the other was dark blue with the 'earth' kanji written on it. "Scrolls?" one genin asked. "Yes, the scroll of heaven and the scroll of earth. You will fight over these scrolls." she held them up for everyone to see. "26 teams in total passed the first exam. Half of those teams will get the heaven scroll, while the others get the scroll of earth"

"Each team will get one scroll. Simply, you have to fight over these." She explained. "And what's needed to pass?" Sasuke cut in. Bring the scrolls of heaven and earth to the tower with your teammates." She smiled malicously. "In other words, the thirteen teams, or half the people here, that get their scroll stolen will fail." Sakura summarized. "Right, except it needs to be done within the time limit. This exam has a limit of 120 hours, or exactly five days."

Some teams started exclaiming at that rule. "What about food!" Chouji yelled despretely. "You'll have to scrounge it up yourself." Anko said simply."The forest is a treasure box of nature, there should be plenty of food."

"However.." Kabuto interupted. "There are a lot of man-eating plants, poison bugs, and poisonous plants." "Oh-no..." Chouji moaned. "Baka, this is a survival test."

"Also, it is not possible for 13 teams, or 39 people, to pass." Neji reasoned. "As time passes, you will be required to move more. So time to rest will be shorter." Lee added seriously. "This seems quite rough." He smiled determinedly at the thought of the challange. "I'm sure we'll be fine." Sunaki announced confidently.

"People will be hurt in the process of fighting over a scroll, and those who cannot bear this progam's strictness will emerge, as well." Mitarashi warned. Shikamaru raised his hand." Excuse me, can we quit in between?" He asked lazily. "As a rule, you are not allowed to give up during the exam. "You will spend five days in the forest." Shikamaru mumbled something that sounded like 'troublesome'.

"While we are on the subject, these are the conditions that will fail , a team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower with the three teammates will fail. Second, the team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just as a note, you are not allowed to look inside the scrolls untill you reach the tower." "What happens if we look?" Naruto challanged. "That's a suprise you'll see when you look at it." She grinned. "If you become a chuunin, you will be handling top secret 's to determine your reliability. Well, looks like that's it for the explaination. Now we will exchange the consent forms for one scroll at that hut." She pointed over to where they were to exchange them. "And when you have picked your gate entrance, everyone will begin at the same time." She sighed heavily."Here's a last bit of advice. Don't die."

Everybody was sitting around, busy reading the form. When the peple called that it was time to hand them in Sunaki picked her way through the crowd, leading her team to the 'hut'. Handing in her consent form, the person handed her a heavon scroll. She gave to to Neji and walked to the other side of the tiny building. "Let's go pick an entrance now." She said brightly.

***  
>The team was now standing in front of a gate that read 41. Lee was looking a bit impatient, you could practicly see the flames in his eyes. "Calm down Lee, were starting soon enough." Neji just chuckled. The jonin at their gate was taking out a key and unlocking the gate. He opened the gate. "Begin." Was all he said. The three shot into the fences in an instant. Launching herself into the trees, she looked around. "Neji?" Said brunnette put his hands together in a hand sign. "Byakuugan."<p>

"There is a genin team north 34 degrees, about 2.48 km away." He said, eyes returning to normal. "They have a heaven scroll, so they're not worth attacking." Lee was going so fast through the branches that she and Neji could just keep up. "Don't be so hasty, Lee." He tried to calm him down. "There's plenty of time, we only just started." The silver blonde added. "I know, I know. I just can't stay still when I think of the strong opponents that await us." He leaped ahead. "Hot-blooded fool." Neji chuckled. Sunaki ignored him and just went faster to catch up with her friend. She could hear screams in the distance.

"Hear that?" she asked. "No, my hearing isn't as acute as your's." He smiled. "Screams, coming from that way." She gestered southwest. "We have to be careful." Neji added, coming up behind them. "We'll be fine. Right now we have to secure food and water, those are our primary concerns." The kunoichi said firmly. "That map she showed us, there should be a river running straight through the woods." Lee recalled. "Too risky, we'll have to find a stream or something like that, a lot of people must be following or collecting from the river." "That way." Neji said. The two followed him.

*** A couple uninteresting hours later***

The three genin sat by a small stream, food and water in possesion. The moon was poking through the clouds, plenty of light to see in. "We were able to secure food and water in the first 12 hours. and right now, there should be a lot of teams resting." The brunnette sat on a nearby rock, twirling a kunai in his hands absentmindedly. "As planned, we will use this time to our advantage. We will separate and go scouting. however, whether you see another team or not, we will meet here." He struck the kunai into the ground. "Got it?" "Kay." "Roger." Came the reply of the other two. "Okay, break!" The three departed, all in different directions. Sunaki went south, Neji east, and Lee west.

The blonde leapt through the trees, watching and listening for anything out of place. She kept tabs on Lee's and Neji's chakra signals. they went on like that, scouting the area. When they met back at the stream, they took turns keeping watch while the other two slept. In the morning, they went back to the routine, going scouting. Sunaki was going through the branches when she felt Lee's chakra signal go off course. Knowing something was wrong, she turned on the spot and left the other way. "That Lee, He probably got in a fight." She muttered to herself. As she drew closer, she heard the sounds of battle, and went even faster.

She could now hear Lee's and a stranger's voice. Taking a final leap, she landed on a tree just above the fighting scene. Lee was covered in scrapes and bruises and was breathing heavily. Sakura was sitting on the ground behind him, looking terrified. 'Wait, those are the sound village genin, the ones who attacked kabuto. I must be careful.' She thought. Without warning, Lee keeled over and threw up. "Lee!" She yelled and dropped of the tree by his side. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Lee, what's wrong, are you okay?" She asked despretely. The same high pitched noise hit her ears, so irritating that she could barely think. "Lee-san!" Sakura cried.

The noise grew alarmingly, painfully. The blonde kuniochi grabbed her ear, groaning in pain. Her hearing was more acute than most people, making the techique more effective. "Lee, what's wrong?" She asked, despite her own pain. "My technique has a trick to it, just dodging it won't help." The creep in front of them spoke. His head had bandages covering it, a mass of silver/grey hair falling down his back. He was wearing a grey robe. He pulled back the sleeve of his robe, revealing a metal attatchment to his arm. Her teammate had grabbed his ear, a bit of blood trickling through his fingers. From the pain, she guessed that she was bleeding too.

"It's sound. You dodged my fist, but the sound attacked you." 'That explained the noise, but there was no way...' "How, how can you manipulate sound so effectively?" She demanded, feeling dizzy and about to fall over. "Do you know what sound is?" He said coolly "Vibrations?" Came a voice behind her. Sakura. "Correct. Being able to hear something means that your eardrum catches the vibration in the air, and the human eardrum will shatter at anything above 150 decibels. On top of that, by applying a shock to the semicircular canals, an opponent will lose his sense of balance." He laughed maliciously. "You won't be able to move your body very well for a while."

"Your outdated Hand-To-Hand combat won't work on us." The creepy ones teammate said." It was effective for a while, but I showed you my technique, so it's not going to go as smoothly as you thought it would be." He pulled his hands out of the ground. "I can control supersonic waves and air pressure... And i'm capable of destroying a rock with sound alone. I can send air into the ground and make it a cusion as well." He said."It's different from your dumb moves." There was some sort of metal tubes in his hands that started forcing air out. "Damn it..." She heard Lee growl. She saw his eyes close."He said to use it only to protect someone important." He whispered." Damn it!" He said, even louder this time. "Okay, You're next!" He ran at Sakura, arm raised. Lee hurried to help her. "Konoha whirlwind!" He started his attack, only to be stopped by a combination of his lotus injuries, his opponet's sound jutsu, and his opponent's block. "Looks like my previous attack was effective." He stated."You suprised me, but I don't see any trace of your chain combo that was executed in a flash now!" He punched, and Lee gaurded.

Sound bursted from the metal plate on his arm. "This arm amplifies the sound that is generated inside like a speaker!" "Lee!" Sunaki yelled, but unable to move more than a couple steps until she fell. "Lee-san!" Sakura yelled."But the sound isn't limited to the direction of my arm, I can use my chakra to guide into the target." "Lee-san!" Sakura yelled again as Lee collaspsed, unconscious. "Now then, time to finish you off." Sunaki forced herself to move, to protect him."I won't let you!" Sakura yelled, throwing kunai at him, distracting him.

Sunaki ran, drawing a sword as she did. she sliced the back of his robes, misjudging the distance as she was still a bit groggy. She also heard muttering in the bushes to her left. Ignoring it, she jumped to the creepy man's left and attacked, to which he blocked, a shrill blast of sound knocking her off her feet. Sakura shrieked and Sunaki opened her eyes, seeing that the female sound ninja was holding her by the hair. "Zaku, kill that Sasuke guy in front of this pig." She watched as Sakura took out a kunai."There's no point to that. it won't work on me." The sound shinobi laughed."What are you talking about?" Sakura asked. "What!" She exclaimed. The silver/blonde haired genin tried to sit up as Sakura sliced her own hair off with the kunai knife, pink strands falling everywhere, her headband slipped off.

"Sakura-san." Lee whispered. "Lee!" Sunaki stumbled over to him. "Lee, are you all right?" She looked him over, but found no serious injuries except internal. She helped him sit up. "Lee, are you all right!" She asked even louder. He didn't answer, slipping back into unconsciousness.

Sakura made some hand signs, and when the sound kunoichi attacked, she dissapeared, a log in her place. She used the replacement technique a few more times, and then she appeared on top of them, a kunai in her hand. The shinobi expected her to use another replacement jutsu, by she held fast, catching him off guard. She kicked him down, stabbed him in the arm, and bite him on the other arm. "Let go, damnit!" He punched her repeatedly in the head, trying to get her loose. When he finally did succeed in getting her loose, he cursed at her. He was getting ready to finish her off when three genin that Sunaki recognised from the first exam rush out from the bushes.

She smiled weakly at them. "Ino?" Sakura asked, suprised. "Heh, some new weird ones are here now." "Ino." Sakura repeated. "I promised I wouldn't lose to you, remember Sakura?" "Ino, why are you here?" She persisted. "I won't let you take all the good parts in front of Sasuke-kun!" "They just keep on swarming in. Konoha's bugs have wandered in here again." Said the grey-haired sound shinobi. He glanced at Chouji, who visibly lost his guts right then and there.

"What are you two thinking! These guys are too dangerous!" He cried out. "It's troublesome, but we have to do this." His brunnette friend replied." Since Ino revealed herself, we men can't just run away." Ino chuckled at that. "Sorry to get you involved, but we're a three man team. We do everything together." She spoke. "Oh-well. whatever happens happens." Shikamaru concluded.

"No! I don't want to die yet!" Their teammate cried despretely, trying to scramble away. "Let go of my muffler!" He screamed. "Shut up and stop moving!" Shikamaru yelled, irritated. The sound ninja kazu seemed to find all this very amusing. "You can run if you want... Fatty." Chouji stopped struggling immediately, ears perking up."What did that person just say." He asked quietly.  
>"I couldn't hear too well."<p>

"I said you can high-tail it into the woods if you want... you fat-ass!" everyone stayed silent for a minute.

"I'm not fat, i'm big boned!" Chouji erupted in total rage."Huuray for big boned people!" He screamed, chakra coming off of him in waves. "Okay! you two understand this is a fight between Konoha and Sound, right!" He yelled. "Gee, this is going to be troublesome." The cloud-watcher sighed."That's our line." The sound genin protested. Ino told Sakura to go look after Naruto and Sasuke. Sunaki got up. She gently pulled him to the small space in the tree where Naruto and Sasuke were passed out. "Formation, Ino, Shika, Cho!" "Go for it Chouji!" Ino encouraged. "Okay, Baika no jutsu!"

"Arigato, Sakura-san." She said as team ten fought. "You really saved us." She said gratefully.

The two watched as the fight came to an stalemate, Ino had caught the girl, Shikamaru had Dosu in his shadow imitation jutsu. Then the sound ninja explained that they were there for Sasuke, not for the exams. "What?" Sunaki exclaimed."What do they want with Sasuke?"

"This is over." Shika sighed. "Damn it..." His friend exhaled. "Close, you almost had us there..." Kazu smirked. "You let your guard down" His teammate finished.

Sunaki heard a very familiar chuckle, and looked up into the trees. "How disguisting. A mere minor sound ninja, acting like victors by beat those second class ninja?" Neji stood in the trees. "Neji!" "He's from Lee-san's team, right?" The rose haired girl asked. "Right, he's our teammate." She answered.

"You guys just keep on coming out like roaches." "That bobbed hair kid and Sunaki is on my team." He activated his byakuugan.  
>"It looks like you went overboard." He stood in the tree, one hand in a sigh and arms crossed. "What is with his eyes! It looks like he can see everything with them!"<p>

"If your going to continue to fight, we'll fight with everything have have." He stumbled back, looking suprised. "If you don't like what we're doing, stop showing off and come down here." Dosu challenged. "No, it seems like there's no need for me to do that." He said, looking behind them. Then she felt it, the dark chakra radiating from behind them.

The silver blonde whipped around, seeing the dark chakra envoloping Sasuke. It swirled and pulsed from him, like smoke from a fire.  
>He got up. "Sasuke-kun, you're awake-" She was cut of as she felt the massive killer intent coming from him.<p>

"That's Sasuke-kun?"

"What is wrong with him?" Sunaki whispered. Now the dark substanes whipped around him wildly, like flames. "Sakura.." He started."Who did that to you?" He demanded. "Sasuke-kun, your body..." She trailed off. "Don't worry. More importantly, I can feel the power surging inside me."The dark haired genin said in a low voice, so only she and Sakura could hear."I'm feeling good right now. He gave it to me..."

"What!" Zaku demanded. "I finally understand now. I'm an avenger, I must obtain power no matter what, even if I have to let this devil take a hold of my body." Sasuke continued.

"Sakura, say it! Who the hell hurt you?" He growled.

"I did." Zaku said cockily. Sasuke turned toward him threatiningly. Sunaki heard Shikamaru yell for Ino to return to her own body, and the three ran back into the bushes, hiding. It probably was the smart thing to do, but she couldn't leave Lee here unconscious. She watched as the markings all over his body start to burn and and spread further. "Dosu, don't be frightend by this half dead guy." Zaku continued. " No, stop Zaku, Don't you understand!" Dosu yelled at him. "I'll kill them all with this!" He yelled, ignoring Dosu. "It'll be over in a flash! Maximun air cutter!"

The world around them exploded. Sunaki lifted her arms, shielding her face from the intense winds. She felt the wind's force trying to knock her but, but she resisted. The girl, however, was almost directly in the middle of the blast, so she had no other choice but to force her body to move, to grab her teammate and get out of the way of danger. When the dust cleared, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura had dissappeared. There was a giant indent in the ground in front of Zaku leading to the spot were they were just sitting.

"Heh, they blew up into pieces." Zaku chuckled. "Who did?" A voice asked. Sasuke appeared beside said sound nin, punching him into Dosu. Sasuke formed a set of hand signs. " Katon, housenka!" (Fire style, pheonix fire) He shot out a number of small flames, all burning brightly. "Don't get so cocky! I'll erase them!" Zaku yelled. He shot more air out of his hands, trying to blow the burning flames away.

"What?" He exclaimed as the flames melted away two reveal multiple shuriken. He cried out as the sharp, glinting pieces of metal cut into him."Zaku! below you!" Sasuke materialized below the brunnette, grabbed his arms, and placed a foot on his back, pulling the limbs harshly from behind. Sasuke smirked, killer intent pulsing off of him. "You seem to be proud of your arms..." He pulled harder, the joints creaking dangerously."S-Stop it!" The nin cried desperately.

Ignoring the genin's plea, he pulled harder. Sunaki heard a sickening snap as Zaku's arms broke. releasing him, Zaku fell to the round screaming. Sasuke turned, that evil smirk still on his face. "That leaves just you, then. I hope you entertain me better than him." He started walking towards him, past Sakura and Naruto. Sakura got up and ran after him, grabbing him. "Please, stop it..."

After a moment of silence, the marks on his skin started burning, and dissapearing, and Sasuke fell over. "Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"You're strong." Dosu said, suprising them. He took his own scroll, the scroll of earth, out of his pocket."Sasuke-kun, we cannot defeat you. let's make a deal, please leave us be for now." He set down the scroll, and walked over to his fallen teammates."We might be asking for too much, but we have something to confirm. In exchange, I promise this, if we are to fight each other in the exam a second time, we will neither run or hide." He picked them up and started walking away. "Wait!" Sakura yelled.

Dsou stopped and turned around. "who is Orochimaru? What did he do to Sasuke-kun?" She cried at him."Why Sasuke-kun?"  
>He hesitated for a moment. "I do not know, we were just ordered to kill Sasuke-kun."<p>

And with that, he left. Lee was just stirring. "Lee? Are you okay?" Sunaki asked him worriedly. "Sunaki-chan. What happened? Where are the sound ninja?" He asked in a daze. "The fight's over, and you were knocked out." The green-clad genin sat up. "Where is Sakura-san? Is she okay?" He asked. Sunaki chuckled in amusement."She's fine. We're all alive, at least." She smiled. She watched as Chouji Akimichi wacked Naruto over the head with a stick. She laughed when he woke up screaming, holding his head. "Ah, everybody, get down!" He yelled in a panic."Damn it, where is he, where is he..." He got down and started crawling around.

Chouji poked him with the stick again. "You really are dumb, aren't you?" Shikamaru sighed. "Actually, watching you kind of pisses me off." Naruto looked around, and noticed Sakura. "Sakura-chan!" He yelled, running at her.

"What happened to your hair?" The blonde cried. "Oh, this?" She asked, touching the back of her head. "Just changing my image." She said, smiling sadly. "By the way, why are you guys here?" He asked Chouji and Shikamaru. "Explaining it to you is too troublesome for me." Shikamaru said lazily."Everyone helped us." Sakura explained. "What?" Naruto jumped up and ran over to them. "Hey, you're that fuzzy brows guy, and you're his teammate!" He exclaimed. Sakura punched him upside the head with extreme force. "Naruto! Don't talk like that to Lee-san and Sunaki-san!" "What happened while I was sleeping?" Said blonde groaned.

"Lee-san." Sakura addressed him. "Arigato." She grinned. "Thanks to you, my eyes are wide open now. I think i've become a little stronger."

"Sakura-san." Lee breathed. He rubbed at his eyes. "I-It looks like I need more training." He said. "Sasuke-kun." Sasuke looked at him. "You live up to the reputation of the uchiha clan." He spoke. "You drove the sound ninja away. you truly possess great potential and power, while I lost horribly." He looked away. "Come on, Lee. You didn't do all that bad." Sunaki tried to comfort the spandex-clad shinobi. "Sakura-san. The lotus of konoha blooms twice. The next time we meet, I will be a stronger ninja." He promised. "Hey, Sakura!" Ino called, and she offered to fix her hair. Sunaki helped Lee over her shoulder. "We should get going, Neji is probably very annoyed right now." She grinned. "Arigato, Sasuke-san. See you, Naruto-kun!" And with that, the two genin departed into the trees where a very annoyed Neji was standing. _'Oh damn it.'_

*** Sometime and a few explainations later.***

A dark figure sat in the tree's waiting. The sky was dark, and Sunaki was sitting in a tree near near a tiny clearing where another genin team was resting. The one on guard wasn't aware of her, she was masking her chakra, waiting for the right moment. Finally, the brunnette leaned over, reaching for a water bottle. She dropped out of the tree, unsheathing a sword. with a soundless swipe, she firmly whacked the boy over the back of the head with the hilt, knocking him unconscious. the motionless body crumpled. she walked quietly over to a bag, producing two scrolls, a heaven and an earth. leaping back to the trees, she headed back to her squad.

She stepped into the firelight. "Hey, i'm back." "How'd it go?" Lee asked, eating a bit of fish. "Well, it seems our total number of scrolls increased to three." She replied. "You got a earth scroll?" Neji asked. "And another heaven." She confirmed, taking them out of her kunai holster."Good job Sunaki-chan!" Her raven-haired teammate congradulated.

"It was easy, they didn't have their guard up. Anyways, we should start moving in the morning." "I'll take first shift." Lee offered to stay up first. "I'll take second." Sunaki claimed. "Good night then." Neji turned away from them.

***  
>Sunaki was shooken awake, and the first thing she saw was a pair of dark eyes. "Morning Lee."<p>

"Good morning Sunaki-chan. Neji said we have time to eat and then we have to get moving." After eating a bit of assorted berries and fish, the trio left the rocky stream-side. Heading towards the tower, Sunaki couldn't help but think that something was wrong. "Hey, the tower is still ahead of us, right?" She asked the byakuugan weilder. "It was last time I checked." Suddenly, Lee pushed her down on the branch, kunai glinting where she was a second ago. "A trap." She said, going in to inspect it. She pulled one out of the wood, checking it over. "Also, the blades are covered in poison." "We should watch for any more traps." Neji said, activating the byakuugan. "Follow me." The two follow Neji carefully, not wanting to activate any more. Lee caught his toe on another wire, both him and Sunaki leaping out of the way of a dozen shuriken. "Be more careful." Neji scolded. "Gomen." He apologized. "Let's keep moving." Sunaki said, gesturing to Neji.

Making their way carefully through the tree's they made it out without setting off any more, Much to their relief.  
>Picking their way through the branches, the three made progress towards the tower. Smelling blood, she turned her head, to see a team that was unsuccessful in making their way through a trap. shivering slightly, she went faster to catch up with the others.<p>

Sunaki, Lee, and Neji stopped in a small clearing. "We should take a break." Neji said. Sunaki took out a water bottle and drank. After resting, the three continued on to the tower.

Coming up on the building, Neji pushed open the doors, and lead her team in. "Look at that, there's a board on the wall." She pointed to the wall. "If you do not possess heaven, gian knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both heaven and earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe paths. This is the secret of, it fades out right here, it shall lead you on your way." The blonde read. "I think it is time to open the scrolls." Lee said seriously. "I agree." Neji took out the heaven scroll. "Are you sure?" Sunaki asked. "Yes." The lavender eyed genin replied. She took out the earth scroll. The two unrolled them together.

"It says person, jin?" "It's a summoning scroll." Neji warned. When the paper started to smoke, she stumbled back and threw it on the floor, as did Neji.

There was a bang, and the smoke exploded. "Hello. Haven't seen you three in a while. "Iruka-sensei?" Lee gasped. "Hey, Iruka-sensei, how are you!" Sunaki greeted. "I haven't seen you recently either." Iruka went on to explain the scrolls meaning and what happened if you opened them early. "You would have knocked us out? Good thing it didn't cross my mind." He also explained the board's meaning. "Earth and heaven, meaning head and body. I think I understand."

Afterwards, they were told to gather in some sort of battle room, with a statue of a hand sign in the front, and on one of the walls was a giant screen.

"First off, congratulations on passing the second exam." Anko said brightly. She noticed Gai-sensei in the front, talking to Kakashi-sensei. She noticed Lee admiring him and sighed. "Just watch Gai-sensei! I will shine too!" "Will you keep it down!" She tugged on the back of his jumpsuit."I don't want people staring."

Her attention kept on turning to the red-haired genin from the sand village. something just seemed... off about him. His eyes were a cold sea blue, devoid of any emotion.

_So, the third exam is starting. I can't wait..._

**_A/N: YAY! the next chapter will be the priliminary rounds, Lee's injuries, general training, realizing gaara's a jinchuriki, that sort of thing. anyways, cookie's to anyone reviewing! symmetrygoddess out:)_**


	6. Chapter 6: The preliminary matches

A/N: Two words... I'M BACK! WIT' ANOTHAH' CHAPTAH'! Yay, this one was really fun to write! Onwards, to the story! *Marches out the door.*  
>Sasuke: It's the other way, idiot. Me: *turns around.* I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER! *laughs maniaclly*<br>Naruto: *Backs away slowly* Umm, I think thats enough coffee for you...  
>Me: Enjoy the story!<p>"We will now have an explaination of the third exam from Hokage-sama!" Anko shouted. "Everyone listen well!" She turned to the third hokage of the village hidden in the leaves. "Hokage-sama, please do the honours."<p>

"Hai. The third exam will begin. But before the explaination, there's one thing I want to make clear to all of you. It's about the true purpose of this exam." He began. "Why we do a joint exam with the allied nations. to maintain good relations with the allied nations, and heighten the level of ninja. Do not let those reasens decieve you. This exam, so to speak, is..." There was a pause in the room. "The epitome of a war between the allied nations." What do you mean?" Someone asked. "If we go back through history, the allied nations right now were neighboring countrys that have fought each other over and over. To avoid wasting military power, those countries decided to choose a place to fight. That was the beginnung of the chuunin selection."

"Why do we have to do that? We're not here to select chuunins?" Naruto asked. "Yes, this exam does examine those who are worthy of the chuunin. But, on the other hand, it's also a place where ninja fight and carrie their country's dignity. In this third exam, fuedal lords and famous people from various countrys who may be potential clients are invited here as guests, and fuedal lords from countries with hidden villages and ninja leaders will see your battles. If theres a significant difference, the stronger countries will be flooded with jobs. If a village is seen as weak, their number in missions will decrease." The hokage explained. "And at the same time, countries are able to show how their village has grown and possess excellent military power to the adjacent countries. In other words, they can put foriegn pressure on them."

"So why do we have to fight at the risk of losing our lives?" Kiba yelled. "A country's power is the village's power. A village's power is the ninja's power, and a ninja's power is only born in a life-or-death battle." Hokage-sama answered.

"This exam is also a place to show off the ninja power of one's country. Since this is an exam where you fight with your life on the line, it has a meaning. And your predecassers have fought and dreamed of being in the chuunin exam because of it.  
>"But why do you say it's to promote good relations?" Sunaki asked.<p>

"I told you at the beginning not to get it confused with that. The custom of saving one's life and fighting to maintain balance, that is the good relations in the world of a ninja. This is a life-or-death battle for your dream and village's dignity." He finished.

"Heh, I understand now." Naruto spoke. " I don't care, tell us the details of this life or death exam." Gaara said coldly.

"I will begin the explaination of the third exam but," Sarutobi paused. A jonin descended from above. "Ecuse me Hokage-sama. I, Gekkou Hayate, the judge, will explain." He coughed. "Please do."

"Everyone, it's nice to meet you." He began. "Everyone, before the third exam, there's something I want you to do.." He coughed again. "Fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to fight in the third exams main battles."

"Preliminary matches!" Shikamaru yelled angrily. "Sensei, I don't understand what you mean by preliminary matches." Sakura said.  
>"Can't we just start the third exam with the remaining examinees?"<p>

"In this case, it might have been that the first and third exam have been too easy, I don't know. but there are too many examinees left. According to chuunin regulations, we must decrease the number us participants for the third exam." "Oh-no!" Sakura groaned. "As prevouisly mentioned by the hokage-sama, there are many guests for the third exam. We cannot just have a lot of matches. We are limited on time as well. so those who arn't feeling well..." He started another coughing fit." Excuse me. If anyone wants to quit after hearing the explaination, please let me know. The preliminary matches will begin immediatly."

"Immediatly?" Kiba shouted again. "But we just got through the second exam." Ino complained. " How troublesome." shikamaru sighed.

"Oh, I forgot to mention this, but you will have one-on-one matches from here on out. So please withdraw if you wish."

Suanki watched Kabuto raise his hand. "I'll quit." He said, smiling slightly. "Let's see... you are Konoha's Yakushi Kabuto-kun, right? You may leave then." "Hai." He said, turning to leave. "Kabuto-san, why are you quitting?" Naruto asked. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but my body is completely worn out already. even before the first exams, when I had that quarrel with the sound ninja, I couldn't hear anything out of my left ear." Come to think of it, Sunaki couldn't hear out of her right ear, it seemed to be damaged. "i can't fight right now, escpecially if it's a life-or-death battle." He paused to speak with his teammate, and then left out the door.

"*cough* May I assume that there's no more people wishing to withdraw?" Hayate asked. "No? Then let's begin the preliminary matches. It will be a one-on-one match, in other words, it will be like real combat."

"Now that we have 20 people, there will be twenty matches, and the winners will be able to advance to the third exam. There are no rules, you will fight until the other dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. If you do not want to die, please admit defeat immediatly.  
>Howevr, if i judge that the match is over, I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deathes." He coughed. "The hing that will hold your destiny," He gestered to the screen, which flickered to life. "Will be electric bulliten board will randomly display the names of two fighters for each match."<p>

"Without further ado, I will now display the names for the first match." The screen started flickering through the names of all the genin there, she saw her name a few times, too. when the screen stopped, these two names were picked. 'Akadoi yoroi VS Uchiha Sasuke.' "Those whose names were shown, please step up." The two stepped forth. "The first matches fighters are Akadou Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke. Are there any objections?" "No." 'Do your best, Sasuke-san!' Sunaki thought.

"We will now begin the first match, everyone other than the fighters, please move up there to watch." He said, pointing to the balconies, which the everyone went to.

Once up, Sunaki stood by her team, the closest to the sand ninja. She stared at them, observing the one with the blood-red hair. He was wearing multiple layers of clothing, weird for someone ho lives in the desert. 'Sabaku no Gaara... what make you so special that Sasuke-san would ask about you?' The thought ran through her mind. Leaning on the railing, she watched the fight.

There was some Tai-jutsu, and it seemed that Sasuke-san had him, when he revealed his technique. He absorbed chakra from his enemys, and he was draining Sasuke. He grabbed him by the head, and was draining his strength pretty fast. Suddenly, Sasuke kicked him off, and they both got up. The two exchanged blows, Sasuke dodging them, then counterattacking. She watched the fight with interest. Naruto yelled at him to get serious, and he stared at them. The other lunged at the young Uchiha, trying to land a series of blows.

Sasuke dodged every one. and dissapeared. "Where'd he go?" Sunaki asked Lee, looking around. He materialized underneath the leave ninja, kicking him into the air. Sunaki noticed something strangely familair about the move, and realized it. "He used his sharingan to copy your technique Lee." She whispered to him. "That's my-?" He started. Sasuke twisted him around in the air, kicked his side, and spun around the other way, punching his face into the ground. "Well, not exactly, but he still copyed part of it." she said to her friend. Hayate confirmed the victory, and the board sprang to life again. 'Aburame Shino VS Zaku Abumi"

The two stepped onto the battle floor. When the fight began, Zaku revealed that one of his arms were okay, and he used it to fight. He used an air take that sent the Aburame tumbling. When the smoke cleared, it revealed the boy unharmed, and bugs crawling out of his skin. "Bugs?" she gasped, feeling sick. If there was one thing she couldn't (OMG! A bug just bit me, no joke!XD) stand, it was bugs and spiders. The bugs formed an army behing the sound genin, a giant swarm. "These guys are called kikai bugs. They attack their prey in groups and consume it's chakra. If I attack you with this many, you will never be able to fight again." He warned."If you don't want that, give up. That is recommended. If you use that move with your left hand, I will make the bugs attack you from behind. If you use it on the bugs, I will attack you."

"Either way, he loses." Sunaki observed. "That's a tight fix he's got on him."

The sound shinobi suprised them all when he used both his arms to try and launch an attack on both of them at once. And then his arms blew up.

"What?" The silver blonde kunoichi gasped. "What happend to his arms?" Lee asked, shocked. Zaku screamed in pain, holding his arm close to his body. "Argh! My arms!" He yelled. He looked down on his arm, where bugs were coming out of his hands.  
>"When I recommedned that you give up, I told the bugs to block those annoying air holes with their bodies, and to stay still. This is what a true trump card is."<p>

His arms were covered in rips and burns, and they were bleeding. nonetheless, he foolishly tried to punch the bug-user. The Aburame was faster and hit him first, sending him flying.

Hayate examined him and declared that the match was over. "What is up with that kid Neji?" She asked. "Who is he?" Lee added.

He stepped away from the group and formed some hand signs. "Byakuugan!" He stumbled back in suprised and shock. "W-what? I would understand if he had summoned those bugs with a technique but he let's those bugs live inside him!" "Live inside him?" She repeated, stomach churning. "He must be part of the clan in konoha that controls bugs." Gai-sensei reasoned. "I've heard of them." Neji said. "The story of the clan that lends their body as a nest to the bugs upon birth and uses them to fight." "Ew, just thinking about it makes me itch!" The girl said. "They control the bugs with their minds and let them battle for them. In exchange, they give their own chakra as food for the insects." "So he is the successor to that clan." Lee said, leaning on the railing and watching him walk up the stairs.

The screen flashed again, and kicked to life, showing flashing names. "Hey, Sunaki-chan! Look!" He pointed at the board, which showed her name. "Finally." She said, leaving her team to jump down the stairs.

When she took her place opposite of the other leaf shinobi, he spoke. "I'm not going to go easy on you because you're a kid." He began. "I wouldn't have it any other way." She replied. Gekkou Hayate spoke. "Begin!"

He flew over the cement, trying to land a kick on her. Sunaki pulled a sword out of it's sheath and blocked, lazily, almost. "Come on, I came for a fight, not a kiddy match." She smirked. His responce was to punch her in the stomach, but his blow was dodged. He carried the momentum by placing his hands on the ground and swerving around, hitting the metal with a clang. She drew the other blade and swung it at his head, but he was smart enough to flip over and duck. Sunaki countered by lifting her leg up and kneeing him in the face. He fell back, but as he fell, Sunaki kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back. The girl rushed him, not giving the other genin a chance to recover. She jumped into the air, holding one blade above her head and ready to crash down on him from above. But he dissappeared. "Huh?" She twisted in midair, and looked around the arena, and landed lightly on her feet.

Sunaki was startled when she felt her opponents arms close around her, and twisting like a snake. "Let go of me!"  
>She struggled, but he wouldn't loosen his grip grip. "Forfiet, or I'll break your neck. Sunaki hissed in reply. "Try it!" She spat. She edged her hand near the weapons pouch strapped to her leg, opening it and carefully grabbing hold of a kunai, the genin not noticing. He tightened his hold around her neck, so that she couldn't breath..<p>

"Give up. This is your last warning." He glared when he saw the smirk on her face. "What's so funny?" He snarled. Sunaki lifted the shiny metal blade a few inches, then drove it through the flesh of his leg, burying it to the hilt. The leaf shinobi howled and let go of her, grabbing his leg in pain. She elbowed him hard in the stomach and he stumbled back a few feet. She ran and jump a few feet into the air, pulling out another kunai.

"Stop!" She froze, the sharp edge a millimeter from his neck, if the order would have come a second later, he would have been fatally injured. "I think you made your point, we don't need any unnecessary deaths here." She walkd over to her fallen weapons and sheathed them again.

"The winner of the third match is Tigura Sunaki." The examiner coughed. She made her way up the stairs, watching the other genin limp to the treatment room. "You were amazing Sunaki-chan!" Lee congratulated. "GOOD WORK MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT!" Gai-sensei patted her on the back. "You guys probably deafened everyone here with your yelling and cheering." She scolded good naturedly. "You got that right!" Naruto threw in. "Good match, though it wasn't enough to defeat me!" He yelled.

"We'll have to fight sometime then." She laughed. The board flashed, and then started rolling through the names, landing on two kunoichi.

Haruno Sakura VS Yamanako Ino.

"Good luck Sakura-san" Sunaki wished.

"Do your best Sakura-chan! Don't lose! You can do it!" Naruto encouraged. The kunoichi exchanged shots, basic tai-jutsu. sakura used the replication technique, using it to confuse Ino. the pink-haired kunoichi punched her in the face, sending her flying backwards.

The fight lasted ten minutes, ending in a double knockout because the two didn't have enough chakra to continue. Kakasi-sensei picked her up and brought her back up to the platform. "Sakura-san!" The group had formed a circle around the motionless figures, but their concern was not needed, as the two had not even required medical assistance.

Temari VS Dosu.

The screen showed another pair of names, and the sound and sand shinobi stepped up. The fight was heavily wieghted in Temari's side, her wind nin-jutsu was a perfect match for the sound ninja. She could blow away the vibrations, and she caught him in her ninpou kamaitachi, and then the match was over fairly quickly.

The screen shimmered, and started shifting through names again. Lee and Naruto were yelling that it was going to be their turns. "Hm, maybe you'll get lucky and it will be both of your turns next?" She chuckled. The names showed.

Nara Shikamaru VS Kin Tsuchi.

"Ugh, how troublesome." the boy padded down to start his match, which began immiediatly.

"Ninpou, kage man no jutsu!" His shadow reached for the dark-haired kunoichi, and she leaped out of the way, tossing senbon needles as she went. two had bells attached, and two didn't. "Oh, I get it, the one with the bell is meant to distract him from the one without, so he'll get hit. That's a clever technique." She remarked. suddenly, the bells started ringing like crazy, she had attached strings to them. she explained that the bells had a gen-jutsu on them, had it caused stabbed him with his senbon needles again.

She promised that she would end it with the last needles, but she found herself unable to move. Shikamaru spoke, saying that he diguised his shadow as the string's leading from the bell's shadow. He forced her to mimick him taking a shuriken out of his holster, and throwing it at the other. They both bent back, Shikamaru dodging the flying blade, and Kin smacking her head on the wall, ending the match.

"Me next, me next, me next." The green-clad ninja chanted. "You'll get your turn, don't worry." Sunaki tried to calm him down.  
>Uzumaki Naruto VS Inukuka Kiba. "Yes, it's my turn, it's my turn!" "Do your best Naruto-kun!" She wished him good luck. "Leave it to me, dattebayo!" The orange genin leaped straight down from the balcony, not bothering with the stairs. despite her kind words, sunaki found herself quite distracted by her thoughts, and a bad feeling in her stomach. She found herself thinking about the other genin from the sand, and Gaara. The way he was watching the match with that cold look in his eye. What could have happened to make him that frosty? He looked up, rivaling her stare, killer intent washing over her. She froze, fear gripping her as she observed him. He was no ordinary genin.<p>

"But Naruto-kun can attack both of them!" Lee's excited shout pulled her out of her thoughts. "What?" She asked. "Look!" Sakura pointed. three Kibas were in the arena, and one was Naruto. The Inuzuka punched one, and it poofed to take his dog's form. "What? Akamaru?" He spun around and punched the other one, which also turned into a white puppy. The first turned back into the prankster, who had gained the upper hand. He kicked the brunnette in the face, sending him flying. He got up, and he took out some shuriken, preparing to attack. The match slipped from her attention again, and she thought idly that if naruto won, she might be able to fight him in the oncoming finals.

When the match ended in a knocked out Kiba and a wildly grinned Naruto, she watched Hinata offer him a small container of ointment. the next pair of candidates were chosen, and to her shock, it was Neji Hyuuga vs Hinata Hyuuga. Neji spoke, giving the girl a chance to give up. She could almost see the shy girl's determination crumble. When naruto spoke up(more like screamed in her face), she regained a bit of fire in her eyes and stood a bit more firmly.

'Don't do anything you'll regret, Neji-san.'

As Sunaki gave that silent warning, the fight began. the two Hyuugas rushed each other, chakra built up in their palms. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as her senses pick up on the amout of energy the two were using.

They were out for blood.

She watched as the hits were either dodged or redirected. She felt fear for the sweet girl, and she knew that Neji's temper would get the best of him at a time like this. a quick glance around at her fellow genin's face's told her the same. Looking back to the fight, she forgot all about the other genin from the sand, and her strange fascination with them. her heart lept into her throat as she watched the quickly rising battle. She didn't know who to root for, Hinata-chan was her friend, but Neji-san was teammate. However much she disliked him, she had alway pushed the feelings aside for the sake of teamwork and accomplishing the mission. Sunaki watched when hinata found an opening, aiming for his heart.

Only to be stopped at the last second.

Neji was quickly becoming enraged, and whipped out one of his bloodline based jutsu's. His hands flew so fast that they were just a blur, and they all had a hard time keeping up with him. Hinata stumbled back and fell, only to get up again.

"Give up, fate has already decreed that this is a battle you can not win."

"I-i won't g-give up." She whispered, voice shaking slightly. He pulled back his arm and palmed her hard in the stomach, probably damaging her insides. "Neji-san..." Sunaki whispered under her breath, so that no one could hear her. "Give. Up." Her responce was to fall to her knees. The blood she coughed up was bright red. she got back up, attempting to hit him again. he grabbed her arm and rammed his hand into it. he then puulled up her sleeve, showing the burn marks. she gasped, and went flying back as he attacked her again.

"Give up! You were destined to regret this the second you said you wouldn't back down. You cannot win."

She got to her feet.

"I-i wo-won't." she mumbled before falling to her knee's, spitting up crimson.

"... I have warned you..."

'She can't fight anymore. If she pushes herself or takes anymore hits she cou-' Her thoughts were again interupted by a loud blonde. "Hinata! Do your best!" She got to her feet, swaying a bit more than slightly. She gathered her strength and ran at him.

He stopped her with ease and struck the midnight haired kunoichi, who tumbled back a few paces. She tried to lift herself to her feet, but she stumbled a bit before regaining her balance, breathing heavily. using the rest of her strength, she rushed at him.

When she got close, the brunette's hand snaked out to meet her chest, letting out a blast of chakra. she froze, and fell over. "Such a stubborn person. Your attacks had no effect on me from the start. A pointless struggle against fate. Is this all the main house has to offer?' Neji sneered.

"It is over." He turned from her motionless body and walked in the direction of the stairs. He heard the collective gasp on the viewing platform and turned his head back towards the girl, who was trying to get back up. He activated his byakugan.

"I-i can sti-"

"Don't try to act tough. I can see that you can barely hold yourself up. No need to hold yourself up, though. If you stop struggling against fate, there will be no need to suffer."

The shy girl shook her head, struggling to take in breath. "You're wrong, Neji-nii-san. Be-because I can s-see..." The hyuuga prodigy looked appalled as she talked. "That y-you're suffering more than me right now."

The enraged brunnette ran forth, ignoring the calls of the procter. he ran at her in blind anger, adn struggled when the watching jounin stopped him.

"Hyuuga-san, the match ended. go back to the viewing platform before I disqualify you."

"Neji, you made a passionate promise that you wouldn't fight over the head family issues." Gai-sensei said seriously.

"Why have the other jounin come!" He growled in return. "Does the head family receive special treatment?"

Hinata gasped and fell over, drawing everyone's attention away from the Hyuuga prodigy. "Hinata!" Kurenai-sensei ran over to the girl, helping her up. "Hinata!" the genin jumped down from their spots on the balcony. Sakura, Lee, Naruto, and Sunaki all ran over to the kunoichi. "Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto knelt over her motionless form. "N-Naruto-kun." She whispered. "Hinata-chan, How are you feeling?" Sunaki asked softly. She reached up and touched her chest, where her heart was. "It h-hurts." She answered. "Hinata..." Naruto spoke softly, lips barely moving. "Naruto-k-kun, was I... able to change?" She fell unconsious. "Sensei, will she be all right?" Sunaki demanded. "I don't know. All we can do now is hand her over to the medic ninjas and hope for the best." The gen-jutsu mistriss answered downtroddenly.

Hey, you. Dropout." she heard Neji and Naruto talk, but she ignored them, silently trembling with anger. When her friend stirred, it was to cough up more blood. "Hinata-chan!" Kurenai unzipped her jacket and checked for a pulse "It's faint, and if she doesn't receive proper medical attention soon..." She muttered to herself. she glared at the faulty brunnette, who only smirked back. "Medic! what are you doing? get in here!" The white-clad ninja scurried in and gently lifted the girl onto the stretcher, and carried her away. Sunaki made her way back up the stairs, ignoring everyone around her, and sat, leaning against the wall. When Neji walked past, she kicked his foot as hard as she could and glared at the boy. When she only got a smirk in response she turned away coldly. "Was that really nessecary?" Her tone was like ice. He just kept walking. "Sunaki-chan?" Lee was standing above her, a worried look on his face. "I'm sure she'll be fine, do not worry. Her flames of youthfullness will not be put out that easily by Neji." But even he lacked an element of surety in his voice. She sighed. "I hope so."

The board flickered , and rifled through the remaining names.

Akimichi Chouji VS Sabaku No Kankuro

Choui groaned loudly and made his way down the stairs. The two took their places at the middle and began their match. Chouji began with his baika no jutsu, swelling up like a balloon and proceeding to crush the arena. The suna nin was too fast to be crushed, though. He leapt around the boy, who went crashing into the wall. When the puppet master tried to shoot poisoned senbon needles at him, they bounced off harmlessly. Finally, when the Akimichi was running low on chakra, he deflated back to his normal form and Kankuro made his move. Sunaki watched the battle progressed, and in the end chouji had to forfeit due to his poison.

The girl's heart pounded when she realized that only her teammate and Gaara remained.

Rock Lee VS Sabaku No Gaara

Lee decided to jump down into the ring instead of using the stairs, and took his place opposite of the red-head. "The tenth, and final, match. Begin!"  
>The fight started immediately, and sand poured out of the mysterous gourd he carried around with him. Rock Lee rushed foward and tried to deal a kick to him, but sand flew up to make a shield. 'The sand protects him.' She thought. Lee pulled out an array of gouken moves, but none of them even came close to touching him. A wave of sand crashed over him, but he leapt out of harm's way.<p>

The look on the sand genin's face was nothing short of scary, and his defence was impenetrable. He dodged wave after wave, but none of them seemed to hit him, he was too fast. "Lee, take them off!" Gai-sensei's sudden shout startled her, and then understanding dawned. the look of joy on Lee's face confused people, and he retreated to the top of the statues, and proceeded to roll up the orange legwarmers. He unhitched the weights off his legs and held them up.

"What difference is taking off a few pounds going to do?" Sakura-san asked from behind her. "Think, Sakura-san. Look closely, see those markings on them?" She nodded her head in response. "Those are gravity seals, which means that those weights are heavier than they look." Lee dropped them off of the tall statue. "See?" A giant crash resounded through the building, and a cloud of dust flew everywhere. When the debris cleared, Lee had dissapeared. A green blur streaked towards the sand genin and a wave of sand had risen to protect him. "He's fast!" Sakura said in awe. Gaara whipped around to see what the disturbence was, and was startled when Lee struck again from the other side. The sand barrier was straining, just fast enough to keep up with Lee's attacks. Gaara attempted to counter-attack by sending sand after him, but the green-clad boy just dissapeared and went after Gaara again. All the onlookers could see was a green blur when he attacked at full speed.

With a crazy burst of speed, Lee punched with all his force, and Gaara went flying. Everybody gasped in union, and the litty-suit boy beside Naruto cried out Gaara's name.

Said red-head picked himself up out of the rubble left over from the last match, the sand swirling and coiling around him. Lee dissappeared, and rematerialized underneath the sand nin, dealing a kick to the chin and sensing up into the air. "Omote renge!"

The bandages on The boys hands detatched and curled around Gaara. Firmly latching onto gaara from behind, the two started spinning like crazy while they fell. Sunaki let out a cry of truimph and closed her eyes. With a crash that resounded all throughout the arena, the two smashed into the floor. Sunaki hung over the railings, trying to see through the dust that had collected throughout the air. When the offending objects cleared, she saw Lee swaying in the middle of the floor, and Gaara laying in a crater. Only, he looked strange...The clone crumbled into sand, revealing the real one off to the side, watching the bowl-cut boy. 'A sand clone.' The real Gaara sent a wave of sand crashing on the boy, who barely managed to stagger out of the way.

"Sensei, why doesn't he dodge?" She heard Sakura asked from behind. Sunaki growled under her breath, that girl was acting like an idoit left, right and center!

"The answer is simple. He can't." Gai-sensei said. "Lee's attack is Not a gen-jutsu or nin-jutsu, which uses chakra to power them. It is tai-jutsu, which also mean that it uses body power. The omote renge grants the user immense speed and power, but it comes at a price. It tears apart the muscles, meaning that Lee is in too much pain to move."

"So basiclly, Lee is a goner?" Sakura asked indifferently. Sunaki couldn't even see what Lee saw in her, she was an idiot. A fangirl too.

"Unless he kicks his attack up a notch!" She swung around to talk to her. "Lee is an amazing ninja, don't count him out just yet! All that training hasn't been for nothing, that much I know! He won't lose." She turned back around as a swing of chakra could be sensed. "See, he already started his next attack." She spoke coldly. Her best friend swore his life to protect her, and this is how she treats him? Idiot. Lee's chakra rose and rose to unbelievable levels, and his whole body turned red.

He dissappeared again, and Gaara suddenly went flying. They couldn't even see the boy, and Gaara soared into the wall, only to be kicked again in the opposite direction. the crowd watched, in worry and in awe as The green-clad boy moved in for the last time, a shockwave of dust flying throughout the building as he lauched his last attack.

When the dust cleared, Lee was covered in cuts and bruises, probably internal bleeding too, and Gaara was amazingly not unconsious. He lay in shock as Lee tried, and failed, to get up. When the shock cleared, he raised his arm, the last of his chakra sent into moving the sand over to the leaf genin.

The sand covered his right arm and leg, Lee still trying weakly to get away. Due to her enhanced hearing, sunaki heard the quiet whisper rising from Gaara's lips. "Sabaku Sousou."

He clenched his fist.

A/N: The power of youth compells me to leave you with a cliffhanger^-^' I'm really sorry about the whole not updating for a month thing but i had to go to camp for two weeks, i got a major case of writers block, and my mom grounded me off the computer for some time:( Oh well... anyways, a will try to write the next chap really fast to make up! bye bye! 


	7. Chapter 7: Visiting The Hospital

A/N: here's another chapter^_^!

Sunaki wasn't, by any circumstances, stupid. She was more sensitive to chakra signatures than the ordinary shinobi. She had seen, more likely felt, the glimpse of golden chakra coming from Gaara, and based on that figured out what he was. As for Lee, he was in the hospital, knocked out by drugs.

Right now, Sunaki, Gai-sensai, and Neji were on another D-ranked mission. Operation capture Tora. Again.  
>By now she knew the cat's favourite hiding places, and with some gentle coaxing the cat ran out and let Sunaki pick her up and take her back, something almost unheard of. But then again, most cats usually seemed attracted to her, courtesy of a certain spirit inside of her.<p>

After reporting the mission with her team, she headed to the training field where she and Rock Lee used to train every day.

The girl smiled to herself as she remembered when they first became a team.

She had presented her dream of being the first female master of ken-jutsu, and then Lee had declared his goal.

Neji had laughed and called him a loser, Lee had jumped up and almost hit him. But since Lee wouldn't strike his teammate in front of Gai-sensei, Sunaki had done so for him.

She also remembered that at the academy, Lee was her only friend because she was a 'freak' for not worshipping 'Neji-kun'.

That jerk was so cold towards them that she was the one called them the freaks, though. (sound familiar, anyone?) Well, all except for TenTen, she seemed pretty normal with her crush on him. She had been pretty nice to her, and had passed the exam, getting onto another team.

Sunaki had been devastated to learn that she had been killed in a freak accident on a mission. Then again, they lead the life of a shinobi, wrought with danger and the possibilities of death were high.

"Rock Lee, huh? Right this way, miss." Sunaki was at the hospital, visiting her friend again.

"Remember, visiting hours end at seven."

The nurse left, and she was alone with the boy. She brushed some of his dark hair out of his face and smiled sadly at his peaceful expression.

The last week had been hell for her, she had run herself ragged worrying about the boy when the medic nins wouldn't let her visit. Sunaki had spent all her mental and physical energy throwing herself into whatever project she was working on to disract herself.

Even Gai-sensei had suggested that she take a break.

She started as she heard the swishing of a cloak and the tell-tale signature of chakra meaning that she was not alone. She took a deep breath and turned around. The first thing she saw was a bush of red hair and cold aqua eyes. She glared coldly.

"So, why are you here?" She questioned emotionlessly.

"I'm here to kill the boy." Straight to the point. No beating around the bush.

"Sorry, but no can do. See, this boy is my friend, and I won't just step aside to let you kill him."

The look in his eyes spoke of genuine confusion, and he held a hand to his head absentmindedly. "This boy, what is he to you?"

She looked over her shoulder and smiled softly. "He is one of my only friends, and one of my precious people. He was one of the only one to show me friendship, to accept me for who I am, not where I come from. That is what this boy is to me."

"I will protect my friends with my life, for they have given me meaning, a reason to live. But I wonder, had my village not been destroyed, would I have been like you? We were created for the same purpose in life, to be a weapon. I am the holder of Nibi No Nekomata, two tailed beast of the ice country. "

The red-haired boy looked up in amazement. To be the same as him, yet so different!

He watched her pull out a sword and take a defensive stance in front of the hospital bed.

"That is why I will not let you harm him."

His gaze hardened. So what if she carried the same burden? This girl was the one preventing him from realizing himself, and he would kill her if he had to.

She let out a cry of suprise as sand wrapped around her legs, trapping her. The sand climbed steadily up her body despite her struggles. She glared straight into the eyes of the killer as the sand covered all of her except her eyes, allowing her to see but not breath, lest she choke on the grains.

Just as she was starting to feel light-headed at the lack of oxygen, her ears perked up at the sound of running footstep coming their way. Sunaki breathed a sigh of relief on the sight of Naruto and Shikamaru bursting through the door, The Nara capturing Gaara within his shadow binding jutsu. the sand fell away from her. she swayed and stumbled when she tried to walk, white spot dancing over her vision.

"Sunaki-san!" He cried out on sight of the silver-blonde. "Naruto-kun. Couldn't come any earlier, huh?" Sunaki passed out, black washing over her sight.

"Sunaki. Wake up, troublesome." Shikamaru Nara was trying to wake the girl, a bit shaky after the encounter with the sand genin. He heard a slight mumble that sounded suspiciously like 'you're troublesome'. Naruto grabbed her shoulder and shook the poor girl, who reluctently got up. "Okay, I'm awake. Happy?" She looked around the room, and the bed she lay on. "The nurse told us to wake you up, in case you got a concussion." The brunette explained.

"I'm fine, it wasn't that kin of injury. Were did Gaara go? What happened after I passed out?" She asked, getting up suddenly. "Really?" Shikamaru squinted at her." You hit your head pretty hard when you fell." She felt the back of her head, which was unsuprisingly healed. (Demon, remember?) "Anyway, he confessed the reason he was there, told us his story, and left. Why?" Naruto puzzled.

"Never mind, I should get home." The girl left the two males there and checked out of the hospital, walking in the direction of her apartment.

Sunaki dropped the pile of wood next to the client's house, done for the day. She was on a solo mission to gather firewood for a man, but just finished. She had decided to visit her raven-haired friend in the hospital again.

Down the long, white hallways which she had seen so much. Arriving at room 185, she opened the door and walked in.

***Lee's P.O.V.***

The room was dark, and Lee could not see a way out. He felt around the small space, feeling the damp ground and stone-cold wall. There was not any light to illuminate the room, only a darkness and a locked door. Fighting down the rising panic, he brushed his hair out of his eyes and once more glanced around, only catching darkness.

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin when footsteps could be heard behind him, and he whipped around to face whomever it was. The green-clad genin squinted in vain to see who it was, and heard a soft tinkle of girlish laughter and something tap his forehead. "Wake up, Lee-kun..."

*** Sunaki's P.O.V.***

Sunaki's head whipped up from the spot she was sitting in. She could have sworn she heard some one move. Her eyes widened in shock and joy as the figure in the small cot roll over eyes blinking open. "You're awake!"

*** Lee's P.O.V.***

This time, when he opened his eyes again, a floresent light blinded him, and he rolled over, noting pain in his arm and leg. "You're awake!" The voice, it was the same as in his dream! He looked up, and saw dark blue eyes gazing down at him. "Sunaki-chan?" He said groggely. What was she doing here? And where exacly was here?

*** Third Person. P.O.V. ***

"Where am I?" He asked, puzzled. Sunaki rolled her eyes and spoke. "Hospital."

"Why? I feel just fi- ow!" Lee tried to sit chuckled. "Lee, you're not fine. You've only been out for a week, it might take several months to heal completely."

the boy looked up. "Months?" He cried in disbelief.

"Yes, months. And you'd do good to remember to listen to the docter and not sneak out or anything."

Lee finally managed to sit up properly, wincing in pain every so often. "I'm not making any promises." He chuckled.

"Lee-kun..." Said boy looked up in suprise at the added 'kun' to his name.

"Look. You really scared me, and I was worried for you. Please don't do anything stupid, please?"

He looked down, guilt clearly written on his face. "I'm sorry." He almost whimpered.

"Sorry for what? That the crazy psyco tried to kill you? That's nothing to be sorry for." She patted him on the head, grinning widely. He smiled too. "So, who are you going up against in the third exam?"

"A sand genin called Sabaku No Kankuro. Remember his fight? He uses puppets. If I have too, I'll just slice his head off before his little puppet show begins!" Sunaki Usheathed a sword and mimicked a head being cut off. "I'm looking foward to fighting Naruto, though. Hope he beats Neji into the ground!"

"He's fighting Neji?" Lee asked hopefully.

"Yup."

"Root for him for me?"

"You bet."

"Yosh!" He cried happily. " Can you ask Gai-sensei to stop by?"

"Of course!"

"Thank you."

Suddenly, a nurse rushed into the room. "Sorry, but you have to go know." She said, waving Sunaki away.

"Bye, see you later!" ***  
>AN: Okay, is short. just felt the need to write this, third exam is next! symmetrygoddess out^_^'


	8. Chapter 8: Three Jinchuuriki: Part One

Sunaki swore she was going to go deaf.

The ken-jutsu mistriss was standing in the combatant's area of the arena, and the noise level was way too high for someone with heightened senses like her's.

"Sunaki-san!" She twirled around, trying to subdue a headache in the making, and saw Naruto prancing up to her, obviously hyped up for his match against Neji Hyuuga.

"Hi! Naruto-kun, how are you doing? How has your training been going?" She asked, twiddling with a piece of her silver hair.

"Eh, I learned water walking and was taught by an old perv. Ero-sennin spent more time peeking on bathhouses than helping me get stronger." He complained.

Sunaki was examining the reflective blade of her sword when she answered. "Sounds interesting. You said you learned water walking? that'll come in handy if you fight against someone who knows suiton jutsu." She remarked absentmindedly. "You worried about your match with Neji-san?"

The whisker-clad boy scoffed. "No way, I'm going to pulverize him! Just watch the match and you'll see." He made a punching motion in the air to further his point. "By the way, how's old bushy brows doing in the hospital?"

"Ok, I guess. He's restless."

"Would Neji Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki step onto the arena floor?" Genma's voice rang out over the stadium. Naruto cried out and leaped over the railway, not bothering with the stairs. "Good luck Naruto-kun!" She called out after him.

The two nins took their places opposite of each other. Neji glared, and Naruto grinned darkly, almost sadisticly. "Begin!" Naruto made a cross sign, and several kage bunshin popped into existence, and attacked Neji. There was multiple smoke clouds around the Hyuuga prodigy, made from the bunshins he destroyed.

When Naruto looked like he was over with, he popped away, leaving Neji to whirl around to face the real Naruto behind him. Neji smirked. "Kaiten!" He started to spin around, chakra forming a sheild around force blasted the real Naruto and the kage bunshin, which popped into smoke. 'Neji's best defense.' She thought.

The offending kage bunshin rushed the brunnette again and was destroyed by the Hyuuga. The smirk on Neji's face told them he was confident he would win. 'He forces chakra out several points in the body and spins to create an impenatrable field. Formerly thought to be a main branch technique, but he obviously figured out how to do it. He really is a genuis!' The girl thought. "You are now in my field of divination." Neji spoke calmly. His body shaped into a advanced jyuuken stance. 'That stance!' Haishi Hyuuga thought. 'How did he- That is a stance for a main branch move! Where did Neji learn that jutsu!'

Neji rushed at the spiky-haired blonde. "Hakke Rokujuuyonshou! 2 palms! 4 palms! 8 palms!" Sunaki realized. He was closing Naruto's tenketsu points. "32 palms!" His attack was nearing its finish, and he shot the last few strikes with a flourish. "64 palms!"

"I have closed all 64 of your tenkutsu points, you're fortunate to be alive. There is no hope for you." He turned and snapped at Genma. "Procter, announce my victory, he won't be getting up anytime soon." It was Hinata all oner again, she reflected as he turned towards the stairs.

Disapointment filled the silver-haired jinchuriki. That was Neji's strongest attack, there was no w-

Sunaki grabbed the railing and leaned way over it, and gasped. Naruto's form was rising out of the dent that had been created in his fall during Neji's attack. "I am not going to give up!" He growled out. Sunaki felt a spike in the blonde's chakra, and a haze of crimson energy surrounded him. She gasped as his eyes burned red and the whisker marks darkened. his teeth turned into fangs and his nails into viscious claws, capable of tearing one's throat out if he wished. the demonic chakra overwhelmed her, and fasination at seeing someone other than herself use that power settled in.

"Naruto-kun..."

The Kyuubi charged Naruto attacked Neji. He punched him in the stomach, sending him flying. He kept at it, finally finishing him off with a kick to the side. Neji collapsed, and Natuyo was declared the winner.

"Naruto-kun!" Sunaki ran up and congradulated him.

The next match was Shikamaru's and Sabaku no Temari. Shikamaru planned ahead and caught Temari in his Kage Mane no jutsu. He then proceded to give up, saying that he was out of chakra. "Nice strategizing and anatilitcal skill's so far he's the best bet to become chuunin.

She saw the blonde kunoichi and Kankuro whispering in the back out of the corner of her eye, but paid no attention to it. It was her time to fight!

"Proctor, I give up!" Sunaki whipped around, and saw the puppeteer with his hand raised. "What! But you haven't even started yet! Don't tell me you wimping out now!" She yelled in his direction. He seemed oddly... irritated? He almost acted like he didn't wan't to give up already, but maybe it was just her. She stalked back to her spot at the railing, grumbling under her breath at the unfairness of it all. Temari gave up on her match as well against Shino.

" Fifth match, Sunaki Yuki versus Naruto Uzumaki!" She perked up at that and looked at Naruto. "I thought Sasuke-san and Gaara were going for the fifth match?"

She shrugged at her and ran down the stairs. Sunaki grinned and followed him excited to finally fight. The two lined up in the middle of the ring.

"No holding back?" Sunaki grinned darkly, almost sadisticly. "Right. I want to see how strong you really are!"

"Begin!" Genma yelled, then leaped back before he was crushed by the two genin rushing each other.

Sunaki clashed against the blonde, her fist digging into his arm. He made a cross hand sign and cried out. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Sunaki's eyes lit up as she drew out one sword and sliced a bunshin clear through. She had trained hard for this battle, and her efforts were paying off well. She lept back and jumped high into the air. The flat side of the blade came crashing down hard on Naruto's haid, who had foreseen it and blocked just in time. Sunaki slashed the blade down the side of his arm, making a slice which healed almost instantly, leaving nothing but torn cloth.

"Heh," Sunaki spun around him, and atacked him from behind. He fly a few feet and righted himself, running fowards with a small burst of speed. He thrust his fist fowards, but just barely touched the hem of her shirt when she leapt back, and charged fowards, slamming her whole body into Naruto's. She planted her foot down, grabbed the back of his jumpsuit, and spun around on the heel of her foot, letting go. She watched him crash into the pavement, and burst into smoke.

'A kage bunshin!' She yelled inside her head, looking around. 'Not behind, or fowards. Not up, where the hell is he?' She tensed when she felt vibrations underneath her, and Naruto's form shot up from the ground and punched her in the face, sending the girl skidding back into the concrete wall.

When the dust cleared it showed her form getting up from the small crater, a slight smirk on her face. "I was wondering when I would get the chance to use this jutsu."  
>She discarded the metal blade which made a loud clang as it hit the stone. Sunaki made a short string of hand signs, ending in a one handed one that he had never seen before. "What the-"<p>

"This is my true abilities, Naruto-kun!" She said, that smirk still on her face.

"Hyouton, Kori no tsume o ohaba ni sakugen!" (ice release, slashing ice claws)

Ice formed on her protective gloves,(think of the ones Sakura uses in shipuuden, only Sunaki uses them to protect her hands from frostbite), forming what looked like jagged claws, almost like a cat's. (wink, wink)

"Ice? How did you-" He was cut of when the girl appeared in front of him, dealing a round-house kick to his torso, along with a nasty scratch from her newly formed claws. "Do you know where I originate from, Naruto-kun?" She asked.

"N-no." He asnwered, wiping off some dust from his sleeves.

"Yukigakure, they were once known for their ice manipulater's. It seems I've... inherited, that gift. Now, for the fight..." She appeared in front of him. "Seems I was holding back. You were too, I can tell." She raised one ice adorned hand to his face. "No more of that."

She hooked on to his sleeve and practicly threw the boy back into the ring, where she gouged him in the back, deep enough to hurt but not seriously injure. He whipped around with a fist in the air and hit with all his might. It connected and she flew backwards before righting her self and making another handsign.

"Katon, akuma endan!" Sunaki brought her hand to her mouth and blew out a small fireball, except it was blue in colour, and even the audience could fell the heat emanating from it.

Naruto dodged around it, and Sunaki grinned. She made a few more, and he felt the dark chakra wash over him. When he looked at her again, her eyes were red, she had whisker marks not unlike his, and when she grinned at him dangerously he could see her fangs poking over her lips. "Naruto-kun!"

The small wisps of the Kyuubi's chakra was reacting to the Nibi's and his eyes turned red also. 'Finally, a true fight with Naruto-kun. We'll see who's stronger this time...' The girl thought.

The two ran fowards simultaneously, Naruto making the first move. He punched and she blocked, and then lashed out with the ice claws. Naruto dodged backwards just in time, escaping with a gash that healed quickly. She jumped over a low kick and pressed fowards with a punch in the gut and another roundhouse kick to the side. Naruto jumped up and made the hand sign again. About twenty kage bunshin appeared around Sunaki. A few attacked her side, while another ground rushed her head on, another still leaping into the air to attack from above. The next few seconds passed in a blur to her, just a mirage of clawing, kicking and dodging. Then she felt a biting pain in her torso, and looked down. The real Naruto had his fist digging into her stomach, the Kyuubi's chakra felt like acid on her skin. she skidded backwards into the wall again, and painfully dragged herself to her feet.

She coughed into her hand, and when she pulled it back to breathe, she spotted crimson blood. 'Internal bleeding, that blood is always the brightest.' She assesed dizzily. She also felt like he took a burning flame to her torso, the skin was burnt.

Naruto also felt his hand burn, but not as strongly. The Kyuubi's chakra was infintely more powerful than the Nibi's, his overpowered her's.

"So, that's how it is..." She muttered to herself, preparing for another attack. Her chakra spiked up again, and her looks became slightly more feral.

She launched herself towards the blonde youth. The next few seconds was choas, kage bushin littered the arena, and Sunaki was having a hard time finding the real Naruto. Her body felt like it was burning up, and the fight had to come to a close soon, or else she would lose for sure. She had just finished stabbing a bunshin clean through the stomach with her ice when She felt a driving force in her back, and was lifted into the air.

"Uzu- Maki- Naruto Barrage!" Sunaki was assualted by the shadow clones, and driven into the ground by the real Naruto.

Her eyes turned back into a brilliant blue, and the whisker marks and everything else faded. She coughed into her hand again, the demon's chakra was driven against her for a moment when Naruto attacked.

"N-Naruto-kun." She said, voice wavering. "You truly are strong." She grinned at him. "But next time we fight, I won't so easy on you. I look foward to it..." She raised her hand and nodded at the procter. "I am unable to continue. I give up."

"The winner of the fifth match is Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto walked over to her, a genuine smile on his face. He held out his hand to the girl, who looked at it and finally took it in her own. She chuckled and He pulled her to her feet, and the two walked up the stairs together, The hyper blonde helped her walking up the stairs. When she got up there, Neji raised an eyebrow at her. "What, he's an amazing ninja." 'And incredibly strong, too. I wonder, if we hadn't have had our bijuu, who would've won that match? Normally I would be overconfident and say I would have, but you just never know...'

"Hey Naruto-kun!" She called out. He spun around to face her, his victory still emanating happiness all around him.

"Catch." She tossed something at him. A tiny little sculpture of a cat and a fox chasing each other was seen in his hand. "Good job defeating me, you have potential. That's made out of ice, I infused it with my own chakra, it'll never melt, and it it ever breaks or cracks, it can repair itself." He looked at her, and the expression on his face was one of bewilderment, and happiness.

"Arigato Sunaki-san." He made a thumbs up. "I'll train super hard, when we fight again I'll be way stronger! Dattebayo!"

"Would Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara make their way to the arena floor please?"

Sunaki looked up to the door on the other side of the building. Sasuke still hadn't shown up, if he didn't come soon his match would be forfeited.

***o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o***

Sunaki sat next to the wall, leaning against the stone. 'nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan...' A mindless tune was weaving it's way through her mind. Then the noise level in the large room increased painfully to the silver-haired girl. She looked around at the entrance, and smiled to herself. Sasuke and Kakashi were in the middle of the battle floor. Kakashi was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Are we too late or something?" He asked, his visible eye curved into an upside down u. "Hey, Sasuke-teme! You're just in time for your match!" A certain blonde cried out.

Sasuke looked at his battered form with a smirk on his face. "Tch, got beaten up already, hm? Did you lose on your first match dobe?"

Naruto responded with a growl. "Sasuke-teme! I've already finished my first two matches! And I beat up both Neji and Sunaki-san pretty good, too!" Sasuke looked at said kunoichi expectantly. She shrugged in reply. "What can I say? He's the strongest opponant I've faced yet. Of course, it wasn't exactly an easy win for him either." She cast a sly glance at Naruto, who just grinned.

Sasuke just looked away with a moody 'hmm'.

"Uchiha Sasuke has now arrived, let the sixth match begin!"

"Chidori!" The sqealing of the lightning technique sounded throughout the silent arena. The Uchiha launched himself twards the barrier of sand, the blade of lightning clashing against the solid substance. when the dust cleared, a huge gash in the earth led from where Sasuke was standing to the armor of sand Gaara was standing in, and Sasuke's arm was penatrating it.

The silence had the very essence of disbelief, and then that silence was broken by a bloodcurdling screech, emanating from the pale sphere on the battleground. The scream chilled Sunaki's blood, but what happened next scared her even more. Sasuke cried out in pain, and started panicking,trying to get his arm out of the hole in the sand. The chakra signature's power spiked, and had a demonic feel to it, only hinting at the raging insanity and bloodlust within.

Sasuke was blown back, and a gigantic arm made of sand slithered back into the protective sphere, his power still growing.

At that moment, small feathers started floating down, and the hypnotic tug of a gen-jutsu was winding it's way throughout the room. Sunaki looked at the people around her falling dead asleep and made a small sign with her hands. "Kai." The effect on her was disspelled immediatly, along with Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, and Shikamaru, whom's signature said he was awake, but was pretending to be asleep anyways. She jumped over the seats to where he was 'passed out' and shook him roughly. "I know you're awake, get up you lazy ass!" She shouted in his ear. Shika groaned and sat up, shooting a irritated look in the kunoichi's direction.

"How'd you know I was awake?" He almost growled, but not quite. "She grinned, sticking her tongue out slightly. "Trade secrets, can't have people like you knowing." He raised an eyebrow at that. "Trade secrets- "

He was cut off by Kakashi-sensei, who was giving insructions to Sakura. "Wake up Naruto and you, Shikamaru and Sunaki can go after Sasuke. He went chasing after that sand genin, and he'll need help taking him down." Sakura nodded, and proceeded wake up the orange-clad blonde. He sat up, looking around groggily. "Huh? Sakura-chan? Sunaki-san? Whats going on?" He whipped around, taking in the chaos outside through a hole in the wall. "Looks like the sand is launching an attack on us." Kakashi said, dodging another kunai thrown at him. The group of genin gathered behind a set of chairs while Sakura explained the plan to them. Go after Sasuke, defeat Gaara, fall back and help with the invasion.

"Sounds pretty simple, when you say it like that." Sunaki said sarcasticly. "Beating Gaara won't be anything easy, with that sand manipulating abilities of his. And besides, we have to leave now if we wan't to catch up." "Well then, let's go." A new voie said. Sunaki jumped and looked down. A small pug was sitting calmly, after just talking no less! "Oh, sorry, I forgot to metion that Pakkun is coming with us." Sakura said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Pakkun? That mutt just spoke! What the hell is happening?" Sunaki muttered confusedly. "He's one of Kakashi-sensei's summonings." The pinkette explained.

"You know what? You smell just like one of those mangy felines we always chase around." Sunaki's eye twitched.

"Let's go, before I beat that puppy to a pulp!" She huffed moodily. "Hai." Shika mumbled. "Let's gooo!" Naruto yelled, jumping out of the hole in the wall. "Wait for me!" She also yelled, jumping out too, leaving Sakura and Shikamaru standing there sweatdropping.

"So, where to, pup?" Sunaki asked, leaping through the trees. "I'll bet it's this way!" Naruto yelled, jumping to their left. "Um, this way actually." The pug jumped to the right. "I knew that! I just, umm, slipped!" Sunaki chuckled at his carefreeness, while Sakura and Shikamaru just hopped in silence.

"Naruto-kun, I can feel a chakra signature up ahead, but it's faint. We should be careful." She warned him.

"Yes, I smell it too. Just ahead."

The group continued on in silence, and then Pakkun halted, sniffing a branch suspiciously. Sunaki and the others landed lightly on the branch as well.

"What is it? You smell something?" Naruto questioned rather loudly. "Quiet down Baka!" Sakura whispered, bonking the offending blonde on the head.

"You know what? I just noticed something." Pakkun yipped. "What?" Shikamaru mumbled. "You," He nodded his head at Sakura. "You use the same hair products as me! We smell the same!"

"...?"

"... What!" Sakura almost shrieked, breaking the stunned silence. "Umm, now's not the time for this..." Sunaki tried to break in unsuccessfully. Sakura's rage cooled off and morphed into angst. She jumped off into the leaves, mumbling something about smelling like a dog.

"Quit it with the jokes, mutt! We have to go help Sasuke-san!" Sunaki raised her voice at the pup as Naruto headed off to comfort the pinkette.

"Well, shit."

"Hm, what's wrong?"

The group were jumping from branch to branch in silence up until then. "I can feel us being followed. How many are there?" She nodded at Pakkun. "About thirteen. Smells as if they're gaining as well." Naruto cast a glance over his shoulder as if he expected to see them behind. "They're gaining, huh? That means one of us will have to stay behind to keep them busy." Shikamaru said.

"You have any suggestions, Nara-san?" Sunaki asked shortly. "Well, I could stay behind, for one." He said thoughtfully.

"You?" Sakura said in disbelief. "Well, my family's jutsu were designed to capture and delay. I think that I would be the most logical choice." He finished. Shika had a irritated look in his eyes though. "You sure Shikamaru?" Naruto asked anxiously. "I could stay behind if you want?"  
>"No, you'd be of more use going after Sasuke." Shikamaru said firmly. "It's settled then. Shikamaru stays." Sakura almost stuttered at the mention of Sasuke. The group stopped at the next tree. "You be safe, Nara-san. Come join up with us when you're finished here. We'll be waiting!" Sunaki punched him on the shoulder lightly and grinned at him.<p>

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. See yah." He said lazily, sticking his hands into his pockets. Sunaki gave him one last glance us they dipped back into the surrounding trees. "He'll be fine, and if he doesn't, I'll have to kick his but when we come back to Konoha!" Naruto declared loudly. Sakura just shook her head at his words, and Sunaki giggled slightly.

"The scent from before, down there." He pointed one of his little paws downwards. The silver-blonde was the first to hop downwards, followed immediatly by Sakura and Naruto. A head of dirty blonde hair done up in four pigtails was seen, but the rest of her was covered underneath a bush.

"It's that genin from the sand. Sabaku No Temari, I think it was." Sunaki said while Naruto poked the side of her face with a stick. "She's out, I don't think she'll be awake for a while." Sakura observed. "What will we do with her?" She asked.

Sunaki knelt down and pulled the unconsious kunoichi to a sitting position with her hands behind her back. "I don't think she'll be too dangerous in her condition, but we should take precautions anyways." She sealed her hands and feet together with a thin but strong layer of ice. Then she gagged the girl with a small strip of fabric ripped off one of her sleeves. "We'll have to come back when we are finished with the fight. Let's go."

Sakura nodded in agreement and the three headed off into the trees again. "Do you think Sasuke-kun did that?" She asked Sunaki. "I saw some minor burns, so my guess is yes, he did. Sasuke-san did use fire back in the forest of death, didn't he?" Sakura eyes shone with a starry light and she squealed. "He's so strong, he's one of the only rookie genin who can use such strong attacks."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. We should be catching up with him soon." Sunaki watched Naruto and Pakkun talk a few branches ahead of them when a strong wave of killer intent Washed over the group. "I can hear fighting." The tell-tale sounds of a fight was ringing through her ears.

When the group broke through the last line of trees surrounding a small clearing, they saw Gaara and Sasuke. Gaara was drawing on amazing amouts of his bijuu's chakra, a thin golden haze surrounded him. Sasuke looked a little worse for wear, but was still fighting, dodging more than attacking or blocking.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke looked around at the familiar voice and was blasted back by Gaara, who took advantage of his momentary break in his guard. Sakura cried out and lept over to where he lay, helping him up. Sasuke pulled his arm out of her grasp as soon as he was up and glared at the red-head.

Sunaki lept over to the branch in front of the pair when Gaara launched off the bridge, and she made a thin but strong shield of ice. Gaara crashed into it and then jumped backwards off of it. One of his arms was hugely engrossed and the sand that covered him looked unsettlingly like flesh. His left eye was black and had a diamond shaped pupil. The massive killing intent was now directed at her. His whole form glowed with an eerie golden haze, and his size was growing as he made more sand of the rocks and minerals. It was anyones guess why he could still move with the same agility as before under all that weight.

She bared her larger than normal fangs at him, and he emitted a low growl. Sunaki saw Sakura shudder out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly, Naruto was by her side too.

"Naruto-kun, think we can take him?" She muttered to the side.

"I never go back on my word. That's my nindo, My ninja way." He said clearly back.

"I'll take that as a yes. I bet his sand can't move as fast when it's wet, let me take care of that." Naruto looked at her in awe. This girl was just full of suprises.

"You can use suiton jutsu too?" He asked in amazement.

"She waved her hand in the air. "Side effect of the hyouton, let's get going."

"Right!" Naruto cried out, launching himself at the opposite container.

**_A/N: Muahahahahaaaa! The power of youth overpowers all! Anyways, I guess this was a good place to leave off, and I just love/hate cliffhangers in other fics, so suspenseful! Moving on, the suspence will last for a while, cause I'm not updating until I get a few more reviews, nothing personal, I just want to make sure people are ACTUALLY READING IT and not just skipping don and alerting this fic. It's a bit discourageing, and the last thing I want is to lose inspiration and discontinue this fic. _**

**_So... I'm also going back and editing the previous chaps, so go check those out^_^ Symmetrygoddess out!_**


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